Journey of Hearts
by sakuraphoenix
Summary: When Hikari escapes the Realm of Darkness, a new threat faces the Realm of Light. Can she face this new threat while ignoring the pains of the past?
1. Prologue: Returning to Where I Belong

Prologue: Returning to Where I Belong

_**Hey everyone! It's me sakuraphoenix, and I'm back! Yeah, yeah, I know, I know! I suck with updating, but cut me some serious slack! My laptop was on the fritz and it was just fixed! At least I'm updating, right? Okay, enough of this talk, it's time for the disclaimer!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, I also do not own Luz. Credit goes to Keybladeauraofpie. I do not own the hooded figure either. He belongs to my good friend infinitestories.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_I woke up to the sound of the waves in this place. The barrier of light was still surrounding me, thankfully. I quickly dispelled the barrier as I stared at the waves._

"How much time has passed since I've been down here? How are the worlds in the Realm of Light?" I wondered out loud

_I took off the locket around my neck, and opened it. Inside was a picture of Lumen with his parents. He looks so happy with them. I wonder how he's doing._

_Luz's P.O.V._

"Ah-choo!" sneezed Lumen

"Hey, you okay Lumen?" I asked

"Yeah. I think someone's talking about me." Said Lumen

_It's been a few months since Lumen appeared on the island. He told us that he can't remember much about his past, nor about the world he came from. He's basically like Kairi. I felt sorry for him. I mean, he's about our age, and he can't remember much about where he comes from. At least he remembers who he is. That's good._

"Hey, have any of you two seen Sora?" Kairi asked as she ran up to us

"He said that he had something to take care of today." Said Lumen

"Well, tomorrow's the big crunch day. That's the last day we're making the raft, and the day after we're setting off. Tell Sora if you see him that 'if he doesn't get off that lazy bum of his soon, we might set off on our journey without him'." Said Kairi

"Don't worry. We'll tell him." Said Lumen

_Hikari's P.O.V._

_After a while of staring at the sea, I resorted to staring at the sky. I did get some Keyblade training in thanks to a few resident Heartless in the area. I still can't but help wonder, will I ever be able to return to the Realm of Light where I belong? Before I could think about it, a man in a black coat walked up. I summoned my Keyblade just to be safe, in case this was some trick by Master Xehanort. The figure stopped a few feet from me. The person didn't seem to do anything._

"Put that away kiddo, I ain't gonna hurt ya." Said the figure

_The person was a male, and he sat down on one of the rocks in this place. I then dismissed Star of Roses._

"Who are you?" I asked

"Well… I can tell you that I've been here before… but unfortunately, it feels like the first. I don't know who I am or where I came from. Everything was wiped out in whatever currents of wind or waves carried me here." Said the man

"I see. I don't know how long I've been here, but it feels like I've been here for a long time in this realm, unable to escape." I said

"All I remember in whatever memories I have left… I remember a kid who was much like you… this kid fights to protect the worlds from falling into this realm." Said the man

"*Gasp* Is this person's name Ventus, Aqua, or Terra?" I asked

"None of those three. Sorry." Said the man

"I see. I knew it was too good to be true." I said

"How long has it been since I met him? Maybe centuries or more, but I remember that kid as if it were yesterday… he and his girlfriend fought against the enemies that faced them." Said the man

_Impossible. Has that much time passed?_

"It can't be… Lumen?" I wondered

"Perhaps. I don't recall." Said the man

"I see." I said sadly

"He was the only person I considered to be a friend, until Xehanort and Vanitas invaded." Said the man

_So… this person's life was too destroyed by Xehanort. How many lives must you destroy until you get what you want?_

"How sad. I'm so sorry." I said

"It's not your fault. He ruined my home and killed many innocent lives. I can't blame you for getting mad. I remember an old friend once said to me 'let go of the past, and move on'." Said the man

_He then pulled out a pitch-black wayfinder. The wayfinder was white at the tips, and appeared to be made from some kind of metal._

"My girlfriend gave this to me." Said the man

"It's beautiful." I said

"This reminds me of how special to me she once was." Said the man

"I see." I said

_I then pulled out the wayfinder I made with all of the different colored shells._

"I have this… to remind me of my friends, and family." I said

_The purple shell then began to shine brightly all of a sudden, and it then created a door of light._

"Farewell then, friend." Said the man

"Um, yeah. I have a good feeling that I know where this portal will take me." I said

"Then take this with you." Said the man

_He gave me a yellowish white wayfinder. It was the same design as his._

"This belonged to my best friend. Be sure to use it wisely." Said the man

_I didn't want to take something that held an important memory to him, but… I figured that he's giving it to me for a reason._

"Thank you." I said

_I then entered through the portal, and when I exited it, I was in the Realm of Light, at Destiny Islands._

"I'm… I'm home. I'm finally home." I said to myself

_I felt something sharp on my hand, and I noticed that the purple shell was completely shattered. That's when I noticed that my clothes had changed. I was now in a red plaid mini-skirt with black lace, black stockings, purple sneakers, a white button-up blouse, and a translucent vest. My hair was now in low twin tails; maybe to disguise myself, I'm not so sure. My armlet was still there, and my locket was conceiled under the blouse. I also had some kind of belt on me too. My deactivated armor and wayfinders were in one of the pouches, and all of my Keychains for my Keyblades were in the other._

"The purple shell completely shattered. Something's happened to grandfather, and I don't know what." I said out loud

_**Done and done! Whew, this took me a while to write, but above and all, I finally have it done! Please review, check out my poll, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Kan dao ni!**_


	2. Destiny Islands

Chapter 1: Destiny Islands

_**Hey everyone! It's me, sakuraphoenix, and I'm back with a new chapter! I know, it's been a while, but hey, I've been busy with finals, AP tests, and all that good stuff. Anyhow, it's high time for the disclaimer!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also do not own Luz. Credit goes to Keybladeauraofpie.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_The early morning sun hit my eyes, which prompted me to wake up. Even though the Realm of Darkness had its own version of the sun, I missed the sun of the Realm of Light; however, last night I saw something very disturbing. One of the stars in the sky blinked out. Why do I have a feeling that the worlds are in danger again?_

_Luz's P.O.V._

_I was on some kind of green stained-glass window, not sure how I had gotten there._

'So much to do, so little time… take your time. Don't be afraid. The door is still shut.'

_I wasn't sure what that meant, so I just started walking. When I reached the center, three pedestals appeared in front of me. One had a sword, one had a shield, and the last one had some kind of wand._

'Power sleeps within you. If you give it form… it will give you strength. Choose well.'

_I ran over to the wand, and then held it in my hands._

'The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek?'

_I nodded my head, and then the wand disappeared._

'Your path is set. Now, what will you give up in exchange?'

_I ran over to the sword._

'The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. You give up this power?'

_I nodded my head._

'You've chosen the power of the mystic. You've given up the power of the warrior.'

_The stain-glassed floor below me began to shatter, and I began to fall, and I saw another stain-glass platform below me. I landed, and the wand I chose formed in my hand._

'You've gained the power to fight. Use this power to protect yourself and others.'

_An image of some kind of black thing with yellow eyes appeared in front of me._

'There will be times you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong.'

_Suddenly, the floor turned black, and I felt like I was falling. When I was aware of everything again, I noticed that I was on another stain-glass floor. However, on this floor, there was a door, which I soon opened, which lead me back to the island._

'Hold on. The door won't open just yet. First, tell me more about yourself.'

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked

"What's most important to you?" asked a female voice

_I turned to face Selphie. _

"Friendship. What else?" I asked

_She soon disappeared, and Tidus walked up._

"What are you so afraid of?" asked Tidus

"I guess… never having the courage to do what I want." I said

_He disappeared just as Wakka appeared._

"What do you want out of life?" asked Wakka

"To broaden my horizons of course." I said

_He disappeared as well._

'You want to have friendship. You're afraid of not having courage. You want to broaden your horizons. Your adventure begins at dawn. As long as the sun is shining, your journey should be a pleasant one. The day you and three others open the door is both far off and very near.'

_I was still on some stain-glass platforms! This is getting really annoying! Before I knew what was going on, a stain-glass staircase appeared in front of me, which lead me to another stain-glass platform._

'The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes. But don't be afraid. And don't forget… you hold the mightiest weapon of all. So don't forget: You are one of the four who will open the door.'

_That was when I opened my eyes. It was all a dream, but it felt so real._

"Hey! Luz! You up yet?" asked a male voice

_I opened my window and saw Lumen outside waiting._

"Lumen!" I exclaimed

"Hurry up, Riku, Sora, and Kairi are already at the island." Said Lumen

"Okay! I'll be down in a minute! I have to tell you about this dream I had." I said

_I got dressed in a navy blue halter top, pink skinny jeans, and my favorite pair of shoes, which were big, and yellow. I just put my hair up in a ponytail, and ran out the door._

"Hey." I said

"Hey yourself. So, what's this about a dream?" asked Lumen

"Okay, so I was in this weird place, and some voice was telling me to choose a weapon at first." I said

"You too?" asked Lumen

"Wait, you had the dream?" I asked

"Yeah. What did you pick?" asked Lumen

"The wand and I gave up the sword." I said

"I chose the shield, and I gave up the wand." Said Lumen

"The voice I heard in my dream said that I'm 'one of the four that will open the door'. What does that mean?" I asked

"I don't know, but in my dream, well, I saw a girl, and I think I saw her somewhere before. Thing is, I didn't hear her name. I woke up just as she was about to introduce herself too." Said Lumen

"Well, let's hurry then. We don't want to keep the others waiting." I said

_Hikari's P.O.V._

_I woke up after I decided to take another nap. I had such a strange dream. I was at the Station of Awakening; at least, I think it was from what I read in old texts relating to the Keyblade. I had chosen the Dream Rod and gave up the Dream Sword. I also heard a voice that said 'I'm one of the four that will open the door'. But what door was that person talking about?_

"Whoa! Gimme a break, Kairi." Said a boy

_I slightly chuckled. The way that person talked reminded me of Ven._

"Sora, you lazy bum. I knew I'd find you snoozing down here." Said Kairi

_Sora? No way. I decided to get a better look, and no doubt about it, it was the same Sora I met so long ago. He's grown so much. How much time has passed? I better find a way to contact Master Yen Sid._

_Luz's P.O.V._

"I think you mean, _we_ knew we'd find him snoozing here." I said

"Luz! This huge black _thing_ swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't…" started Sora

_Kairi then hit him on the head._

"Ow!" exclaimed Sora

"Are you still dreaming?" asked Kairi

"It wasn't a dream! Or was it? I don't know. What was that place? So bizarre…" said Sora

"Yeah, sure." Said Kairi

_Kairi and Lumen then turned to face the sea._

"Say Kairi, Lumen, what was your hometown like?" asked Sora

"You know, where you grew up?" I asked

"I've told you before, I don't remember." Said Kairi

"Same here." Said Lumen

"Nothing at all?" asked Sora

"Nothing." Kairi and Lumen said in unison

"You ever want to go back?" I asked

"Hmm… well, I'm happy here." Said Kairi

"Yeah, same." Said Lumen

"Really?" asked Sora

"But you know, I wouldn't mind going to see it." Said Kairi

"Yeah, same." Said Lumen

"I'd like to see it too. Along with any other worlds out there!" exclaimed Sora

"Same with me." I said

"I wanna see them all!" Sora and I exclaimed in unison

"So what're we waiting for?" Kairi and Lumen asked in unison

"Hey, aren't you guys forgetting about me?" asked a familiar male voice

_We turned to see Riku._

"So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft." Said Riku

_He tossed a log to Sora._

"And you three are just as lazy as he is!" exclaimed Riku

"So you noticed. Okay, we'll finish it together! I'll race you." Said Kairi

"Huh?" asked Sora

"What? Are you kidding?" asked Riku

"Yeah, seriously Kairi." I said

"Ready? Go!" exclaimed Kairi

_Sora, Riku, and I jumped up immediately after that, and all three of us were neck-in-neck. Unfortunately for Sora, he came in third place. Second to me. First to Riku. That means he has to find the logs. I had to find some rope, and Lumen had to find the cloth for the sail. It took all day, but we found the materials. At the end of the day, we were sitting on the Paopu fruit tree. We were staring off into the sunset._

"So, Kairi's and Lumen's homes are somewhere out there, right?" asked Sora

"Could be. We'll never know by staying here." Said Riku

"But how far could a raft take us?" I asked

"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else." Said Riku

"So, suppose you get to another world. What would you do there?" asked Kairi

"Hmm… well, I haven't really thought about it. It's just… I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds… then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?" asked Riku

"I don't know." Said Sora

"Exactly. That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go." Said Riku

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" asked Kairi

"Thanks to you and Lumen. If you two hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this. Kairi, Lumen, thanks." Said Riku

"You're welcome." Lumen and Kairi said in unison

_We then headed down to the dock to get our boats, and I saw someone. She had long blond hair, and was just standing near the waterfall. Why do I feel like…?_

"Hey! Luz! You coming, or what?-!" exclaimed Lumen

"I'll be right there!" I exclaimed

_I turned back to where I saw the girl, but she wasn't there. Was I seeing things?_

_Hikari's P.O.V._

_That was too close for comfort. I had to hide in a nearby brush to avoid being seen._

"Hikari, are you still there?" asked Master Yen Sid

_I walked back to the pool of water._

"Sorry about that Master Yen Sid. I couldn't afford to be seen." I said

"I understand. It's been ten years Hikari." Said Yen Sid

"Ten years?-! No way, it felt like ten days had passed in the Realm of Darkness." I said

"So that's where you've been all this time." Said Yen Sid

"Yes, and I fear that the worlds are in danger again." I said

"Unfortunately, they are." Said Yen Sid

"That's what I thought. Last night, I saw a star blink out. Is Master Xehanort up to no good?" I asked

"The Xehanort you know is battling inside Terra's heart." Said Yen Sid

"I see. That is comforting to hear, but it also means that Xehanort is still inside Terra. At least he's still alive. Master Yen Sid, I should probably leave soon to check on matters." I said

"I'm afraid not. The stars tell me you have a different task in front of you, to guide the Keyblade Wielders of a generation you're from, and a new generation." Said Yen Sid

"I see, so the master has to be the teacher." I said

"I trust you can do it." Said Yen Sid

"I'll do the best I can, I promise." I said

"I believe that you truly can. I'm counting on you Master Hikari." Said Yen Sid

_He cut communication after that. So, the worlds are in trouble once again, and it's up to this Keyblade Master to help._

_The next day, Luz's P.O.V…_

_I just arrived at the cove, when I spotted Riku and Sora having another one of their arguments._

"If I win, I'm captain! And if you win…" started Sora

"I get to share the paopu with Kairi." Said Riku

"Huh?" wondered Sora

"Deal? The winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi." Said Riku

"Wha… wait a minute…" started Sora

"Okay. On my count: ready, set go!" exclaimed Kairi

_They sped off as soon as Kairi said 'go', and Lumen showed up._

"Hey guys." Said Lumen

"Hey." I said

"Let me guess, Sora and Riku, the usual?" asked Lumen

"The usual." I agreed

_And Riku made it back first._

"Man, now the score's 0 to 1!" exclaimed Sora

"Alright, we're naming the raft Highwind." Said Riku

_After that little 'adventure', we were looking for provisions. Lumen was looking for a seagull egg, Sora was looking for drinking water, and I was fishing for fish. Lumen, Sora and I all agreed to find coconuts and mushrooms after we got the first things on our lists. We did eventually find some more mushrooms in our secret place. This place really brought back some memories, and Sora decided to finish that picture he and Kairi made a long time ago, and then, we all heard something_

"Wh-who's there?" asked Sora

"I've come to see the door to this world." Said a male voice

"Huh?" I wondered

"This world has been connected." Said the male voice

"Wh-what are you talking about?" asked Lumen

"Tied to the darkness… soon to be completely eclipsed." Said the male voice

"Well, whoever you are, stop freaking us out like this. Huh?" asked Sora

_The guy was wearing black, so we couldn't see his face._

"So, wise guy, where did you come from?" I asked

"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door." Said the male

"So you're from another world!" exclaimed Lumen

"There is so very much to learn. You three understand so little." Said the male

"Oh yeah? Well, you'll see. We're gonna get out there and learn what's out there!" exclaimed Sora

"A meaningless effort. One who knows nothing can understand nothing." Said the male

_He then disappeared within the wind. Seeing no purpose to stay in the secret place, we headed out back to the raft, and gave Kairi the supplies. I was sitting on the Paopu fruit tree when Lumen showed up._

"I thought you went home." I said

"Same." Said Lumen

"Oh. So, do you think that Riku's changed? He's so serious all the time. It's almost as if he's not the Riku I grew up knowing." I said

"You have it rough. I don't even know if I have parents, or people who know me out there. For all I know, I could've been gone for days or years back in my world." Said Lumen

"I'm sure we'll find where you're from." I said

"Thanks Luz." Said Lumen

"No prob." I said

_I was now at home, lying down on my bed, when I noticed something outside of my window._

"A storm? Oh no! The raft!" I exclaimed as I jumped up out of bed

_I furiously started rowing my boat to the island. When I arrived, I saw some strange black thing in the sky._

"What's that?" I wondered

_Hikari's P.O.V._

"That thing in the sky can only mean one thing. Darkness has arrived on this world's doorstep. And where there's darkness…" I started

_I summoned Star of Roses, and took out some Heartless who were about to jump me._

"Heartless aren't far behind." I finished

_Luz's P.O.V._

"No way. Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Lumen. They're here too." I said

_The black blobs from my dream appeared. I didn't have the wand from my dream, so I just ran. I eventually ended up at the Paopu fruit tree, where I saw Lumen, Sora, and Riku._

"Sora! Riku! Lumen!" I exclaimed

"Where's Kairi?-! I thought she was with you!" exclaimed Sora

"The door has opened…" said Riku

"What?" asked Lumen

"The door has opened Sora, Lumen, Luz! Now we can go to the outside world!" exclaimed Riku

"Are you deranged?-! We gotta find Kairi!" I exclaimed

"Kairi's coming with us! Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back. But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" exclaimed Riku

_He extended his hand as a black portal appeared under his feet._

"Riku…" Sora, Lumen, and I started

_Something black began to surround him, and it was about to swallow me, Lumen, and Sora too, until something struck the ground between us, and dispersed the black stuff around us. That was also when I saw a bright light in the dark, and when I could see the islands again, I felt something in my hand, it looked like a key, but I thought it was a sword. It was black and white, and had a broken heart as the 'key' part. Lumen had one of those things too, and it looked like Sora's, but the difference was the Keychain._

'Keyblade…'

_A girl with blond hair in twin tails then showed up, and pulled out from the ground one of those things that Sora, Lumen, and I were holding. Who is she?_

_Hikari's P.O.V._

_So this is where my spell brought you Lumen. I escaped that place just in time too._

"So, it looks like you guys were stuck between a rock and a hard place." I said

"Who are you?" asked Sora

"The name's Hikaru. And you guys are?" I asked

"Sora." Said Sora

"I'm Luz." Said Luz

"Lumen." Said Lumen

"Nice to meet you. I'd love to stick around with introductions, but we need to get off this world, and fast. At this rate, it's going to overrun by darkness." I said

"Wait, you come from the outside world?" asked Luz

"Whoops. Cat's out of the bag. Looks like I broke rule number one too." I said

"Rule number one?" Luz, Sora, and Lumen asked in unison

"Never, _ever_, let anyone else know you're from another world, or that there are other worlds. You have to preserve the world order." I said

"But Lumen's from another world." Said Luz

"Then he's a special case. Anyhow, before we do get out of here, are you guys forgetting something?" I asked

_They stood there for a while, and I could imagine a light bulb above their heads when they realized it._

"Kairi!" Sora, Luz, and Lumen exclaimed in unison

"Thought so. Come on, let's find her." I said

_We did fight a few heartless while searching for this 'Kairi' girl, and we did find her, in the place where I would hide out whenever I was visiting this world._

"Kairi!" exclaimed Sora

_She turned around to face us, and she wasn't looking too good. She looked kinda pale._

"Sora, Lumen, Luz…" said Kairi

_A wave of darkness came from the door behind Kairi; I couldn't let that darkness run its course._

"Light Shield!" I exclaimed

_A barrier of light surrounded us as Kairi flew our way. Sora tried to grab her, but she just… vanished. We were all pushed out of the place, even with my shield up. I looked up at the sky, and what I saw scared me. This world wasn't going to last much longer. We had to seal the Keyhole to this world, however, before we could, a huge Darkside appeared behind us. Oh great, at a time like this?_

"Stay back. Let me handle this." I said

_However, Sora charged in for battle._

"Sora, wait!" exclaimed Lumen

"Kid's gonna get himself killed rushing into battle like that!" I exclaimed

_We all then rushed into help him. Screw my title; I had to help him before he got himself killed! Sora attacked the arms, Lumen and Luz were working on the bottom, and I was getting its head. We finally sent it back to where it belonged, but it was too late. This world was getting sucked up!_

"Hang on!" I exclaimed

_Even with those words, we couldn't stay on the ground; we were all sucked up into the vortex, as I was met with darkness surrounding my vision._

_**And this is only the beginning of what's yet to come. Please review, check out my poll, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Kan dao ni!**_


	3. Traverse Town

Chapter 2: Traverse Town

_**Hey everyone! It's me, sakuraphoenix, and I'm back with a new chapter of Journey of Hearts! Believe me, this is going to be one heck of a chapter, I can feel it! Anyhow, time for the disclaimer.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also do not own Luz. Credit goes to Keybladeauraofpie.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_I woke up feeling something wet on my cheek. I opened my eyes to see Pluto, the dog that always followed Queen Minnie around in Disney Town._

"Hey Pluto. Do you remember me?" I asked

_He wagged his tail wildly as if he was saying 'yes'._

"Good dog. Listen, I'm kinda trying to keep my identity a secret here, so, pretend you don't know me, okay?" I whispered into Pluto's ear

_He nodded his head._

"Okay. I'll wake up Luz and Lumen. Try getting Sora up." I said

_I shook Luz and Lumen awake while Pluto licked Sora's entire face._

"What a dream…" said Sora

_He then tackled Sora as Luz and Lumen opened their eyes._

"Ah! This isn't a dream!" exclaimed Sora

_Lumen, Luz, and I couldn't help but laugh at his expression._

"Where are we?" asked Luz

"Ya got me. Never seen this world before." I said

"You've been to other worlds?" asked Lumen

"Too many for my own good." I said

"Oh boy." Said Sora

_He then bent down to face Pluto._

"Do you know where we are?" asked Sora

_Pluto then ran away._

"Hey!" exclaimed Luz

_Luz, Lumen, and Sora began chasing after Pluto, and seeing that I was out-voted, I followed them out of the alley._

"This is totally weird. We're in another world!" exclaimed Lumen

"Gee whiz Captain Obvious, what gave that away?" I asked

_Sora then decided to look around this place, and found himself in a shop of some sorts._

"Hey there, how can I… aw, it's only a bunch of kids." Said the man

"I'm not a kid! And the name's Sora!" exclaimed Sora

"What he said, I'm Luz." Said Luz

"Lumen." Said Lumen

"Hikaru." I said

"Okay, okay, simmer down. So why the long face Sora, Luz, Lumen, Hikaru? You four lost or something?" asked the man

"Well, maybe we are. Where are we?" asked Luz

"Huh?" wondered the man

_One long explanation later…_

"Traverse Town?" Sora, Luz, Lumen, and I asked in unison

"So grandpa, is this another world?" smirked Lumen

"Don't call me grandpa! The name's Cid! Anyway… not sure what you're talking about, but this sure ain't your island." Said Cid

"Hmm… Guess I better start looking for Riku and Kairi." Said Sora

"Well good luck with whatever it is you're doing. If you four ever run into trouble, come to me. I'll look out for you." Said Cid

_We then exited his shop, and my scar began to act up a bit as we got closer to the second district of this place, and there was a good reason too. Sora, Lumen, Luz and I saw someone's heart get taken away, and it turned into a Heartless! Suddenly a few more surrounded us._

"It's those creatures from the island!" exclaimed Luz

"They're called Heartless. The only way to defeat is with the Keyblade." I said

"Keyblade?" asked Lumen

"The weapons you guys obtained back on the islands were Keyblades. I'll show you the ropes." I said

_I summoned Light of the Moon, and took care of a Heartless in no time flat. Sora, Lumen, and Luz seemed to catch my drift, and summoned their Keyblades._

"They'll come at you out of nowhere." Said a male voice

"Who are you?" asked Sora

"And they'll keep on coming at you, as long as you four continue to wield the Keyblade. But why? Why would it choose kids like you?" asked the male

"What's that supposed to mean punk?-!" I exclaimed

_I guess I forgot to mention I hate being called a kid. Besides, I'm supposed to be 25 years old by now._

"Never mind. Now, let's see those Keyblades." Said the male

"What?-! There's no way you're getting this!" exclaimed Luz

"Alright, then have it your way." Said the male

_He brought out… what?-! A gunblade?-! Those things are almost impossible to master! That means he's a master of close range and long range combat! Lumen and Sora both charged into close range combat with the guy._

"Luz, watch this. Fire!" I exclaimed

_That smoked him._

"Pretend that your Keyblade is an extension of yourself, and focus your energy on releasing magic. All Keyblade wielders can cast magic." I said

"Even Sora and Lumen?" asked Luz

"All Keyblade wielders. That's one of the most basic spells. Try it." I said

"Okay. Fire!" exclaimed Luz

_That got him square in the chest, and Lumen and Sora finished him off._

"Now… you're… gonna… you're gonna…" started Sora

_He and Lumen collapsed onto the ground._

"Sora!" exclaimed Luz

"Lumen!" I exclaimed

"Aw, you're slipping Leon." Said a female voice

"I went easy on them." Said Leon

"Really? 'Coz it looked to me that you were giving it your all." Said Luz

"Watch it." Said Leon

"Maybe you were, maybe you weren't. That's all I can say." I said

"Looks like things are worse than we thought. A lot worse." Said Leon

_Leon, and Yuffie, I later learned, took us to a place they were staying at. They put Sora in one room, while Lumen was in another. Luz stayed with Sora while I was with Lumen._

"Come on, lazy bum. Wake up." I said

_He then groaned as he got up._

"You okay?" I asked

"I guess." Said Lumen

"We were lucky today. Those Heartless sure know how to pack a punch. They're after the Keyblade you and I possess, along with Luz and Sora. I'd be lying if I said that's all they're after, because it's not. It's our hearts they want, because we can wield the Keyblade." I said

"Well, in any case. I'm glad you're okay Hikari." Said Lumen

"Hikari? Is that your girlfriend? It's me, Hikaru. Are you sure you don't have a concussion? Because I think that 'Squall' guy overdid it." I said

"Squall?" asked Lumen

"It's Leon's real name, at least, that's what Yuffie said." I said

"Oh. Sorry, it's just that I've been seeing this girl in my dreams lately, and her name's Hikari. You kinda look like her too, only she always has a sort of scowl on her face." Said Lumen

"Yep, doesn't sound like me at all." I said

"So, where are we?" asked Lumen

"Some place where Leon and his crew hang out to make plans. The Heartless were tracking us via Keyblade, so we had to ditch them, so to speak. It was the only way we could conceal our hearts from them, but it won't work for long. Still, I kinda find it hard to believe that your friend Sora is one of the chosen ones." I said

"Chosen ones?" asked Lumen

"To wield the Keyblade. I'm not surprised about you or Luz, I kinda expected it. Unfortunately, beggars can't be choosers." I said

"Okay, since you know so much Miss Know-it-all, what's going on around here?" asked Lumen

"Oh, where do I even begin? Okay, you know there are many other worlds out there, besides this town and your island." I said

"Yeah." Said Lumen

"Thing is, they're supposed to be a secret, but things have changed. The other worlds have been secret, because they've never connected before, until now. The Heartless are most likely the cause of it." I said

"The Heartless?" asked Lumen

"Right, I didn't give a detailed explanation before. They were the wise guys who attacked us. The darkness is people's hearts is what attracts them, and there's darkness inside every heart, so everyone's in danger, except for a small few who have nothing but light inside their hearts." I said

"Who are they?" asked Lumen

"The Princesses of Heart. Individuals who have light so pure in their hearts that no darkness can reside in those hearts. Anyhow, Yuffie asked me to ask you if you heard of someone named 'Ansem'." I said

"No. Do you?" asked Lumen

"Not personally, but his reputation pursues him. He was studying the Heartless, and had a detailed report about his findings. If you ask me, it makes me sick to the stomach. Unfortunately, the pages were scattered everywhere, to many worlds, and that Keyblade my friend is the key to get there." I said

"So, this is the key?" Lumen asked as he picked up his Keyblade

"Yep, so keep it memorized. The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade, so they'll keep coming after you no matter what." I said

"But I didn't ask for this!" exclaimed Lumen

"Hey, to be fair, neither did I. The Keyblade chooses its master, and it chose you." I said

"This is too weird." Said Lumen

"Welcome to my life. When you've been trained to battle Heartless from a young age, you kinda don't have room for anything else." I said

"Hikaru! Over there!" exclaimed Lumen

_A Heartless appeared. They found us!_

"Lumen, stay back!" I exclaimed

"What can you do?" asked Lumen

"Fight. I don't have just the Keyblade. Watch this. Light Freeze!" I exclaimed

_A bright version of Blizzard hit the heartless, and froze it solid._

"Lumen, your turn!" I exclaimed

_He used the Keyblade, and sent the Heartless flying._

"Not bad for a beginner, but its boss must be somewhere." I said

_We soon found ourselves in the third district, and as soon as we arrived, we all saw a duck and some kind of dog… wait a minute! That's Donald and Goofy! And unfortunately, they landed on us, and saw our Keyblades._

"The key!" Goofy and Donald exclaimed in unison

_Then there seemed to be some kind of earthquake, because ground doesn't shake for no reason. Correction, an arena was being made, and Heartless appeared, but as soon as we got rid of them, well… I think we found our boss._

"Guys, aim for its arms and legs, the armor will fall apart!" I exclaimed

"Who made you the boss?" asked Luz

"Who's the expert around here?" I countered

_She was about to open her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it. We all worked in teams to get rid of the Heartless. Sora and Luz were working on the legs while Lumen and I were working on the arms. When all that was left was the chest of the monster, we quickly attacked it all at once, and that's all she wrote for the Heartless. Donald and Goofy then told us they were looking for the 'key', or in this case, us._

"So, you were looking for us?" asked Sora

_Donald and Goofy nodded._

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade." Said Leon

"Hey, why don't you four come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel." Said Goofy

"I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi." Said Luz

"Of course!" exclaimed Donald

_They were then whispering something into each other's ears._

"Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikaru, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends." Said Leon

"Yeah, I guess." Lumen said with a long face

"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand? No frowning. No sad face. Okay?" asked Donald

"Yeah, you gotta look funny, like us!" exclaimed Goofy

"This boat runs on happy faces." Said Donald

"Happy?" I asked

_Sora then tried to make a happy face, but after a while, we all burst out laughing!_

"That's one funny face!" Goofy exclaimed while laughing

"Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys." Said Sora

"Count me in." said Luz

"Me too." Said Lumen

"Make that three." I said

"Donald Duck." Said Donald

"Name's Goofy." Said Goofy

"I'm Sora." Said Sora

"My name's Luz." Said Luz

"I'm Lumen." Said Lumen

"The name's Hikaru." I said

"All for one, one for all!" exclaimed Goofy

"Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you guys. We don't know how far the Heartless have spread." Said Leon

"Good luck!" exclaimed Yuffie

"I hope you find your friends." Said the woman in pink

"Look out for each other. Keep your spirits up." Said Leon

_We then walked with Donald and Goofy until we got to the gate leading to district one._

"The gummi ship is outside that gate." Said Donald

"The what?" asked Lumen

"That's our ship." Said Donald

"Wait 'till you see it!" exclaimed Goofy

"Hold on. Sora, Lumen, Luz, this is for you." Said Donald

_He waved his wand around, and some kind of light appeared to surround them._

"What about Hikaru?" asked Goofy

"I'm already good with magic, so I don't need it." I said

"Let's get going then." Said Luz

_We boarded their ship, and began a new adventure to save the worlds in trouble._

_**Done and done! This really took a while to finish, but hey, at least it's done! Please review, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Kan dao ni!**_


	4. Wonderland

Chapter 3: Wonderland

_**Hey everyone! It's me sakuraphoenix, and I'm back with a new chapter! I know it's been a while since I last updated, but hey, I've been busy. Anyhow, disclaimer time!  
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also do not own Luz. Credit goes to Keybladeauraofpie.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_We boarded the Gummi ship and departed for a new world. Donald was at the wheel, but even on Keyblade Gliders, I knew it was going to take a while for us to get there, so I decided to take a nap._

_*Dreamscape*_

_I was battling against my mother, father, and sister in Traverse Town. I couldn't hear their voices, but I could hear the sounds of our Keyblades clash. Something they said got me ticked off, and without control of my own body, I launched a light spell at them. Then, the ground underneath me began to crack, and it shattered. Words then seemed to materialize around me._

**The power you hold is one of the Keys…**

**Your heart is something they seek…**

**Filled with light, corrupted by no darkness…**

**When home within your reach, light and darkness together will shine.**

"Hey Hikaru? Hikaru!" exclaimed a female voice

"AH!" I screamed

"Hey, don't scare me like that." Said Luz

"You scared me!" I exclaimed

"We were trying to wake you up. You started talking in your sleep. We didn't catch the first part, but you said something about 'light and darkness together will shine' or something like that." Said Lumen

"I see." I said

"Well, we've arrived at the next world. Time to get moving." Said Luz

_We exited the Gummi ship, only to realize that we were falling not to long after. We all landed on our feet, except for Goofy. I then saw a white rabbit run past him._

"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!" exclaimed the white rabbit

_We followed him into another room where three doors served as the entrance. When we entered, well… is it just me, or did that rabbit get smaller?_

"How did he get so small?" asked Sora

"Don't look at me. I've been to this world before." I said

"So, which worlds have you been to?" asked Lumen

"Quite a few. Let me think… the Castle of Dreams, Never Land, Disney Town, Deep Space, and I can't remember the rest of the top of my head." I said

"No, he's not. You're simply too big." Said the doorknob

_I practically jumped back in surprise._

"It talks!" exclaimed Donald

_The doorknob then yawned. Guess we woke it up._

"Must you be so loud? You woke me up." Said the doorknob

"Good morning." Said Goofy

"Good night. I need a bit more sleep

"We're sorry that we woke you, but could you help us? Can you help us um, get to the appropriate size?" I asked

"Why don't you try the bottle over there?" asked the doorknob

_A chair and table then grew, and we all saw two different bottles. We tried the blue one, and we shrunk! But there was still no way to get past the door, so we grew back to our normal size again, and saw a hidden doorway behind a bed. Now we could go through once we shrunk. When we got through, we saw the white rabbit blow a horn, and a girl with shoulder-length blond hair, wearing a blue dress._

"Court is now in session!" exclaimed the white rabbit

"I'm on trial? But why?" asked the girl wearing a blue dress

"Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!" exclaimed the white rabbit

"This girl is the culprit. There's no doubt about it. And the reason is… because I say so, that's why!" exclaimed the queen of hearts

"That is so unfair!" exclaimed the girl

"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" asked the queen

"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong! You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so… so mean!" exclaimed the girl

"Silence! You dare defy me?-!" exclaimed the queen

"Hey guys, we should help her out." Said Sora

"For once we can agree on something Sora." Said Lumen

"Yeah, but the…" started Donald

"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" asked Goofy

"I think you mean 'meddling'. I've done plenty of interference for my part, so long as we don't tell others we're from another world. Even if it's against the rules, we can't just do nothing." I said

"The court finds the defendant… guilty as charged! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart. Off with her head!" exclaimed the queen

"No! No! Oh please!" exclaimed the girl

"Hold it right there!" exclaimed Sora

_We all charged into the court._

"Who are you? How dare you interfere with my court?-!" exclaimed the queen

"Well, excuse us, but we happen to know who the real culprit is!" I exclaimed

"Uh-huh, it's the heart…" started Goofy

_Luz clamped his mouth shut._

"As I was saying, she's not the one you're looking for." I said

"That's nonsense. Have you any proof?" asked the queen

"Uh…" started Sora

"No, but we know where the culprit is. If you allow us to apprehend him, and bring him back here, we'll prove that she's innocent." I said

_The guards then locked her up in a cage._

"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence! Fail and it's off with all of your heads! Gather as much or little evidence as you please. Report back here once you're ready." Said the queen

_We then turned to go into a forest, and then the others turned to face me._

"Way to go Hikaru!" exclaimed Sora

"You have that queen stalling for time." Said Luz

"Yeah, but for how long? We don't even know if we can find the Heartless, or if they're on this world." I said

_Then, a cat's face appeared in front of us! It moved all over the place until the head, plus its dislodged body, stood on a tree stump. This cat was freaking me out._

"Who are you?-!" exclaimed Donald

"Who, indeed? Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head and she's not guilty of a thing." Said the cat

"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, tell us!" exclaimed Sora

"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers, but doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness." Said the Cheshire Cat

_It then disappeared from our sight._

"Wait!" exclaimed Lumen

"They've already left the forest. I won't tell you which exit. There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all." Said the Cheshire Cat

"Should we trust him?" asked Donald

"To trust, or not to trust? I trust you'll decide!" exclaimed the Cheshire Cat

_He disappeared again, and we all began to search for the evidence. We found all four pieces, which did point to the Heartless. Let's just hope we have enough to prove that Alice is innocent._

"Are you ready to present the evidence before the queen?" asked the guard

"Yeah." Said Luz

"Very well. Counsel, step up to the podium." Said the guard

_I stood up on the podium, ready to make our case._

"Now, show me what you have found." Said the queen

_We then showed her our evidence we collected._

"Cards! Bring forth my evidence!" exclaimed the queen

_She then mixed up the boxes! Now I can't tell what's in what anymore!_

"Hmm, checking all five would only be a waste of time. Alright then. Choose the one you wish to present. I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence." Said the queen

"What? After all the trouble of collecting it?" complained Sora

"You dare object?-! Then you will lose your head! Now, choose! One box!" exclaimed the queen

"I'll pick. I can tell which one we're looking for." I said

_I walked over to the box, and the one with the strongest scent of darkness was the one I opened. A Heartless appeared out of it, and the Queen locked it up. Regardless, she thought we were the culprits, and the exits were sealed. One of the guards then activated a crank that lifted the birdcage to the top of the pillar, and the guards began to attack us. I figured if we destroyed the pulley system, we could get Alice out of there. When it was, we all rushed over to the birdcage… only to find her missing!_

"She must've gotten kidnapped while we were fighting." Said Donald

"Gee whiz Captain Obvious, what gave that away?" I asked

"You fools! Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!" exclaimed the queen

_Back into the forest it was, and the Cheshire Cat was there too._

"Have you seen Alice?" asked Lumen

"Alice, no. Shadows, yes!" exclaimed the Cheshire Cat

"Where did they go?" asked Goofy

"This way? That way? Does it matter? Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows! Step deeper into the forest to the deserted garden. You might find shadows in the upside-down room!" exclaimed the Cheshire Cat

_He soon disappeared after his statement. We decided to travel deeper into the woods, and we eventually came across a table with a tea set. Guess whoever was here left in a hurry. We entered inside the house, and it sure was weird. Why? Because we were on the ceiling of the room we first came into when we arrived on this world._

"They're hiding somewhere. And the momeraths outgrabe. Want to find the shadows? Try turning on the light." Said the Cheshire Cat

_We then saw two tables with lamps on them. Sora and Luz lit one lamp with a fire spell._

"It's too dim. Make it brighter." Said the Cheshire Cat

"What next?" asked Luz

"One more lamp that you need to light." Said the Cheshire Cat

_And he disappeared yet again. We jumped over to the next table to light the other one. Then the Cat appeared again._

"All the lights are on. You'll see the shadows soon. They'll arise in this room, but somewhere else. The shadows might go after that doorknob, too." Said the Cheshire Cat

_He disappeared again, but at least we have an idea of where to go next. We headed back to the room where we started, and saw the cat on the table with the drinks that either made us grow or shrink._

"You'll have a better view from higher up." Said the Cheshire Cat

_So we all jumped onto the table, and walked over to the cat. I resisted the urge to step on its tail._

"The shadows should be here soon. Are you prepared for the worse? If not, too bad!" exclaimed the Cheshire Cat

_A gigantic Heartless appeared! It seemed to have a thing for music, for it kinda looked like a conductor in a way. When we stunned it enough time, we relentlessly attacked it, without stopping unless it got up again. When it was finally defeated, it released this gigantic-sized heart! Looks like we did it and the doorknob yawned again._

"What a racket. How's a doorknob to get any sleep?" wondered the doorknob

_It yawned a huge yawn, and I saw the keyhole to this world. I summoned my Keyblade, and pointed it to the hole. A light shined forth, and the Keyhole was sealed._

"What was that?" wondered Donald

"You hear that? Sounded like something closed." Said Sora

_Something fell out of the Keyhole, but what was it?_

"A gummi…" said Donald

"But I don't recognize it. Let's get it checked out in Traverse Town." Said Goofy

_The cat appeared again. I hope this is the last time we see it._

"Splendid. You're quite the heroes. But there's something you're missing." Said the Cheshire Cat

"What?" asked Sora

"I won't tell, but I'll give you something." Said the Cheshire Cat

_Lumen, Sora, and Luz began to glow blue, and the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. Guess they learned the Blizzard spell._

"If you're looking for Alice, she's not here. She's gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness." Said the Cheshire Cat

_He then disappeared, and I feared the worse._

"No…" I said

"Let's go back to our gummi ship. We might find her in another world." Said Donald

_Alice, wherever you are, please be okay._

_**Done and done! Whew, this took a while, but above and all, I'm finally done! Please review, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Kan dao ni!**_


	5. Deep Jungle

Chapter 4: Deep Jungle

_**Hey everyone! It's me, sakuraphoenix, and I'm back with a new chapter! I know that it's been a while, but hey, I've been busy! Anyhow, disclaimer time.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also do not own Luz. Credit goes to Keybladeauraofpie.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_In all honesty, I would've preferred going to the next world via the Lanes Between and my Keyblade Glider instead of this excuse of a ship, but beggars can't be choosers. Soon, we saw the next world._

"Hey Donald, maybe King Mickey's down there." Said Goofy

"In a backwater place like that? No way! Let's move on." Said Donald

"Hold on. Riku and Kairi might be down there." Said Sora

"Yeah, let's just check it out." Said Lumen

"Forget it! We're on an important mission!" exclaimed Donald

"Just land!" exclaimed Sora

"No!" exclaimed Donald

"Come on!" exclaimed Lumen

"Aw, phooey!" exclaimed Donald

"We're landing!" Sora and Lumen exclaimed in unison

_Sora and Lumen were reaching the control panel, and began touching random buttons._

"Don't touch that! No!" exclaimed Donald

_We were then suddenly spinning all over the place. Next thing I knew, I was falling, and landed in some kind of tree house._

"Oww… my head…" said Sora

"You can say that again." Said Lumen

"Make that double." Said Luz

"Triple." I groaned in pain

"Donald?" asked Sora

"Goofy?" asked Lumen

_No answer, until we heard a roar. Then some weird gigantic cat pounced in! I think it thinks we're its dinner! We summoned our Keyblades, and attacked it with everything we got. We then managed to get it on the ground, and slowly moved closer to it. It got up and growled again, and it was about to attack, until a man with long brown hair entered. He was holding a spear, and didn't wear a lot of clothing. At the sight of the person, the uh, thing ran._

"Sabor, danger." Said the man

"Um… thank you." Said Luz

"Thank you." Said the man

"Huh? Uh, what is this place?" I asked

"This place, this place." Said the man

"Okaaay… Where did the others go?" asked Sora

"Look, we got separated from our friends. Have you seen them?" asked Lumen

_He didn't seem to understand._

"Friends…" said Luz

"Friends!" Said the man

"Right, our friends. There's two of them. One of them is pretty loud, and named Donald, and the other is a bit of a jokester named Goofy. Have you seen them?" I asked

"We're also looking for our friends, Riku and Kairi." Said Sora

"Look for Riku, friends?" asked the man

"Right!" exclaimed Lumen

"Kairi, friends?" asked the man

"Uhh… right." Said Luz

"Friends here." Said the man

"Really?" I asked

"*&&X%." said the man

"Huh?" wondered Sora

"*&&X%. Friends here." repeated the man

"Not sure we understand, but can you show us, please? Can you take us to Riku and Kairi?" asked Lumen

"Tarzan. Tarzan go." Said Tarzan

"And… I'm Luz." Said Luz

"Hikaru." I said

"Sora." Said Sora

"And I'm Lumen. Tarzan go, Sora, Lumen, Luz, and Hikaru, go go!" exclaimed Lumen

_We followed Tarzan down to the top of some trees where he showed us a tunnel that helped us get to the forest floor. He then urged us to follow him inside an orange tent._

"Jane!" exclaimed Tarzan

_The woman inside turned around to see us._

"Tarzan! Oh, and who is this?" asked Jane

"Uh, hi there. I'm…" started Luz

"Oh, you speak English! So, then, obviously, you four aren't related to Tarzan. Are you here to study the gorillas?" asked Jane

"Highly doubtful." Said a male voice

_A man with a gun walked in and behind him were Goofy and Donald._

"Sora! Lumen! Luz! Hikaru!" exclaimed Goofy

"Goofy!" exclaimed Sora

"Donald!" exclaimed Lumen

_As soon as we were reunited, Lumen, Sora, and Donald had their backs to each other._

"A circus of clowns. Not much use for hunting gorillas." Said the man

"Mr. Clayton, we're studying them, not hunting them. This is research." Said Jane

_Clearly she was frustrated with him._

"Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourselves at home." Said Jane

"Well, anyway…" started Lumen

"I'm staying." Sora, Lumen, and Donald said in unison

"Huh?" wondered Sora

"Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikaru, look what we found. Look at this." Said Goofy

_Goofy showed us something. Hmm… I've never seen anything like it before._

"What's that?" Sora, Luz, Lumen, and I asked in unison

"A gummi block. It's the same stuff used to build our ship." Said Goofy

"So that means…" started Lumen

"The king could be here. So, we've gotta work together to look for him. For now." Said Donald

_Clearly he was still mad with Sora and Lumen._

"Fine, we'll let you tag along." Said Sora

"For now." Said Lumen

_Jane decided to cut into the argument. Good for me, I was getting a headache listening to these guys fight._

"Apparently Tarzan was raised in the jungle by the gorillas. Communicating with him still isn't easy, but he's learning." Said Jane

"So he was speaking in 'gorilla' back there." Said Luz

"Ah, that's right. You're looking for your friends?" asked Jane

"He said that Riku and Kairi are here. And one word that we couldn't understand." I said

"Why don't we try this? We'll show Tarzan some slides and see if any of them match that word. Oh, what happened to the slides?" wondered Jane

"Maybe they're around the camp." Said Sora

"We could go look for them." Said Lumen

"Thank you. There are six slides in total. When you find them, bring them back here." Said Jane

_We all exited the tent, and searched around for the slides. We each found one slides. When we found all six, we went back inside the tent, and gave them to Jane. When she started the projector, Sora seemed to be deep in thought over one picture._

"What's wrong, Sora?" asked Donald

"What? Um, nothing." Said Sora

_We looked through the rest, and it looked like none of the pictures matched the word._

"Well, Tarzan?" asked Jane

"Where are my friends Riku and Kairi?" asked Sora

_He only shook his head._

"Hey, we thought…" started Lumen

"That leaves just one place. Young man and little girls, we're been in this jungle for some time now. But we have yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them." Said Clayton

"Really Mr. Clayton. Tarzan wouldn't hide…" started Jane

"Then take us there! Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las." Said Clayton

_He looked at us for a long time, and then nodded his head._

"Tarzan, are you sure?" asked Jane

"Tarzan go see Kerchak." Said Tarzan

"Kerchak?" asked Jane

"He must be the leader. Perfect. I'll go along as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place." Said Clayton

_We exited the tent, and the leopard was back! Sheesh, can't this thing take a hint after we kicked its butt last time? After we sent it packing through the jungle, Tarzan led us to the top of some trees, where he began speaking with some of the gorillas._

"Uh, did you get that?" asked Goofy

"No." said Donald

_They left, and Tarzan seemed to be distracted. Was he looking towards the tree house? Only one way to find out. We climbed up the trees to get there, only to find that Clayton had his gun pointed at one of the gorillas! Donald and I jumped in next to him. Donald scared him while I cried out:_

"Stop!"

_He missed with his shot, and the gorilla that was playing around with the globe ran off next to Kerchak._

"What's the big idea?-!" exclaimed Donald

_Tarzan was trying to speak to Kerchak, but just walked away with a look on his face. The smaller gorilla looked hurt as he too walked away._

"You don't understand. I was only trying to… ah. A snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla's life." Said Clayton

"I didn't see any snakes. Besides, the only snakes that can climb trees, are the kinds that aren't poisonous. You have a lot of explaining to do to Jane when we get back down to your camp mister." I scolded

_I dragged him by the ear back down to his camp, and went we got to Jane, we explained everything that happened._

"How could you do such a thing?-!" exclaimed Jane

"Now, Miss Porter, as I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla." Said Clayton

"You are not to go near the gorillas again!" exclaimed Jane

"All because of one mishap? Come, now…" started Clayton

_Jane, Luz, and I had our hands on our hips while Lumen and Sora had their arms crossed. He soon walked out of the tent, and not long after he did, we hear gun shots. We quickly exited the tent, only to find that Heartless have found this world too, and that they had surrounded one of the gorillas we saw earlier!_

"Heartless!" Sora, Luz, Lumen, and I exclaimed in unison

"Is there is a world they _haven't_ found yet?" asked Luz

"Maybe, maybe not." I said

_I asked myself the same question about the Unversed years ago. We went on the offensive with these Heartless, and we took care of them, easy._

"Well, no more monkey business for us." I joked

_Sora and Lumen laughed at the joke I made while Luz gave me a look._

"Hey, I was just trying to lighten up the situation." I said

_We entered back into the tent after scouting the forest, only to see that Clayton wasn't around for miles. At least the gorillas were safe._

"I do hope Mr. Clayton is safe…" said Jane

_She must be lost in thought. We then heard another gunshot, which sounded like it came from the bamboo thicket. We ran inside and saw some kind of smoking pipe on the top of a rock. This must be Clayton's. Okay, now I'm getting a bad feeling. Then Sabor, the leopard, appeared again. I guess the third time's the charm. Hopefully, this time, the leopard can take the hint. When you mess with Keyblade wielders, you don't get away with a scratch, especially if one of those wielders is a Keyblade Master. When we were finished with the punishment we gave it, it collapsed. I didn't think any of us wanted to take our chances, so we headed back to the camp, but the startling news was, Jane was missing! Not good, this is not good at all._

"Hey, where's Jane?" asked Sora

"Where did she go?" asked Lumen

"She must've been taken by someone, or something." I said

"You're not suggesting…" started Sora

"If it were the Heartless, the tent wouldn't look like this on the inside." I said

"What's wrong, Tarzan?" asked Goofy

"Something coming. Jane, danger. Jane near… near tree house." Said Tarzan

"Sounds like trouble. Let's go." Said Donald

_We exited the tent, and got to the climbing trees, but there was something different about this place this time._

"Tarzan!" exclaimed Jane

"The big black fruit looks suspicious." Said Donald

"That's no fruit, it's a net, made for holding people, or animals, imprisoned." I said

_Sora and Lumen worked with Donald and Goofy to handle the Heartless while Luz and I worked on breaking the net. When we finally did, Jane fell out along with the small gorilla we saw earlier._

"Clayton came to the tent and… that's the last thing I remember." Said Jane

"Clayton?-!" exclaimed Lumen

"Gorillas trapped. Terk ran." Said Tarzan

"We must help the gorillas!" exclaimed Jane

_We made our way to the cliff, where we saw Clayton behind a bunch of Heartless. So the Heartless are attracted to him! He was about to fire his gun when we intervened._

"No!" Sora, Lumen, Luz, and I exclaimed in unison

_He didn't lower his gun, and stared at us._

"Clayton?" wondered Sora

"Not Clayton!" exclaimed Tarzan

_He said *&&X% again._

"Not Clayton!" exclaimed Tarzan

"Sora, Lumen, Donald, take out the Heartless! Goofy, Luz, you guys are with me!" I exclaimed

_We went after Clayton as the others went after the Heartless, and he was all talk no action, until something broke the rock behind him, then Tarzan went in for the attack, then got pushed back, and then Clayton got picked up by something we couldn't see._

"What's holding up Clayton?" asked Lumen

"Something we can't see. We'll have to use him as an aiming point." I said

"Aiming point?" asked Luz

"Charge up your spells, and go full throttle!" I exclaimed

_While Sora, Lumen, and Donald were facing against the Heartless, Luz, Goofy, and I were focused on getting Clayton off. We finally did, and I stepped on his back for good measure._

"Sora, Lumen, Donald, now!" I exclaimed

_They all cast a Fire spell, which stunned the Heartless_

"Luz, it's all yours!" I exclaimed

"Got it!" exclaimed Luz

_She dealt the final blow, and before Clayton could shoot us, the Heartless ate him, and then it disappeared. Luz, Lumen, and Sora were then surrounded by a green light. Looks like they learned the Cure spell. Then Kerchak, the gorilla leader, walked up to us, and threw us over the ledge! I could see that Lumen, Luz, and Goofy landed on their behinds, Donald and Sora on their chests, and well, I landed on my feet. Tarzan soon joined us._

"Tarzan, home." Said Tarzan

_He led us to a sort of cavern behind the waterfall we saw as we well, got the blood out of our heads. When we arrived at our location, there was something blue and glowing in front of us. I bet that I'll kick Vanitas' butt to the curve the next time I see him that that's the Keyhole to this world._

"*&&X%." said Tarzan

"This is your home?" asked Sora

"But that means…" started Lumen

_He cut them off as he listened to the sound around us._

"Huh?" wondered Goofy

"The waterfalls. They're echoing all the way here." Said Jane

"*&&X%. Friends there. See friends." Said Tarzan

"Oh, now I've got it. *&&X% means 'heart'. Friends in our hearts." Said Jane

"Heart." Said Tarzan

"Oh, so that's what it meant." Luz said disappointed

"Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends." Said Tarzan

"Sorry about what I said." Said Sora

"Same here." Said Lumen

"I'm sorry too." Said Donald

"Yeah. All for one, huh?" asked Goofy

_Luz walked up to the butterflies, and they flew away to reveal the Keyhole. She summoned her Keyblade, and sealed the door to this world shut. Another gummi appeared from the Keyhole._

"A gummi!" exclaimed Donald

"But it's sure not the king's." said Goofy

_Terk nudged Donald's elbow as he turned his attention to the gorilla._

"I think someone has a new admirer." Said Jane

_Donald looked shocked and shook his head as he waved his hands around._

"No, no, no, no! Daisy would kill me!" exclaimed Donald

_We all laughed at his expression as he looked a little flustered._

"Well, guess we'd better get going." I said

"Where is your ship, anyway?" asked Jane

"Well, uh… not too far." Said Donald

"Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikaru, Tarzan, friends." Said Tarzan

_We walked out of the tent to travel to the next world, but why do I have a feeling that something isn't right?_

_Third Person P.O.V._

_Three figures were together in a room. Two of them were wearing Black Coats while another was looking through a magic orb. They were Maleficent, Sarah, and Kyo._

"I can feel it. Yes, the heart we've been seeking has finally reached my senses." Said Maleficent

"So her powers have awakened." Said Sarah

"Yes, the seeress has finally awakened her powers. She can't be any older than 15 at least." Said Maleficent

"Now if this were ten years ago, we'd drag that useless excuse of a Keyblade Master to you." Said Kyo

"Who knows where Master Hikari is now, I don't care. Her light may be strong, but the darkness is stronger. Ankoku, I believe it's high time that you introduced yourself to them." Said Sarah

_A girl with short black hair with a purple hair clip holding part of her bangs aside walked into the room. A part of her bangs over her right eye almost reached her eye. She was wearing a green halter top, jean shorts, and dark grey boots. She also had blue eyes and her ears weren't pointed._

"I understand mother, father." Said Ankoku

_**And the plot thickens! It's been ten years, and Ankoku still has no idea that Hikari is her sister! Or does she? Please review, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Kan dao ni!**_


	6. Olympus Coliseum

Chapter 5: Olympus Coliseum

_**Hey everyone! It's me sakuraphoenix, and I'm back with a new chapter! I know it's been a while, but I've been busy, seeing that school starts in about a couple of weeks for me, so I've been dragged off to torture central (otherwise known as the mall) for back-to-school shopping. Anyhow, enough of my woes, time for the disclaimer**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also do not own Luz. She belongs to Keybladeauraofpie.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_As we landed on the next world, I was shocked to see that it was Olympus Coliseum! I was excited to be back on this world, and at the same time, scared. I promised Zack a date! I really hope he doesn't see me here. We entered inside, and saw Phil working on something._

"Um…" started Sora

"Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games." Said Phil

_Sora and Luz decided to push while Lumen and I pulled. Man, was this thing heavy!_

"It weighs a ton!" Sora, Lumen, Luz, and I exclaimed in unison

_If all four of us together couldn't move it, no one can. Luz then ran back over to Phil with the rest of us following._

"It's way too heavy." Said Luz

"What? Too heavy? Since when have you been such a little… Oh. Wrong guy. What're you kids doing here? Huh? Hey Hikari! How's it going?" asked Phil

"Hikari?" Sora, Lumen, and Luz said in unison

"Yeah, she's one of my best buds! Haven't seen you in years!" exclaimed Phil

"Sorry, got the wrong girl. My name's Hikaru." I said

"Whoops. My bad. Anyways, this here's the world-famous Coliseum. Heroes only! Now if you were Hikari, I'd let ya in no problem. She was a hero in the games. Kicked the butt of certain god. Besides, I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pip-squeaks." Said Phil

_Sora, Lumen, and Luz glared at him._

"Look, it's like this. Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum." Said Phil

"You got heroes standing right in front of you." Said Donald

"Yep. They're real heroes, chosen by the Keyblade!" exclaimed Goofy

"And we're heroes, too." Said Donald

"Heroes? Those runts?" asked Phil

_Phil started laughing his head off. If I didn't have to lie about my identity, I'd whack his behind into next week._

"What's so funny?" asked Sora

"Yeah, we've fought a bunch of monsters!" exclaimed Lumen

"Hey, if you can't even move this…" started Phil

_Oh, this was gonna be hilarious._

"You can't call yourselves…" started Phil

_He's setting himself up for a tongue-lashing._

"A hero!" exclaimed Phil

_He collapsed onto the floor as he caught his breath._

"Okay, so it takes more than brawn. Well, well, let's see what you can do." Said Phil

"Oh we'll do more than that. We'll wipe the Coliseum floor!" exclaimed Luz

"Okay, this trial is tough. You got what it takes?" asked Phil

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Luz

"I'm so ready!" exclaimed Lumen

"I'm ready!" exclaimed Sora

"Me too!" I exclaimed

"Okay kids, let's see what you've got, but you, Blondie with pigtails, I wanna talk to you alone." Said Phil

"Fine." I said

_The others walked into the arena as Phil pulled me over into the corner._

"Nice try Hikari, but you can't fool me. I know that face anywhere. So, why'd you lie?" asked Phil

"Well, let's just say they're sort of my students. Gotta make sure they're safe after all. Know what I'm saying?" I asked

"Okay, I get it. You're responsible for them, so you have a job to do. I'll keep it a secret from them, but don't expect me to keep it a secret from Herc. Okay, now get your butt in there!" exclaimed Phil

"I'm going, I'm going." I said

_If all of the trials were gonna involve knocking down barrels, then this was a cakewalk. One of the first exercises I did when I learned how to use the Keyblade was this. Unfortunately, Xehanort thought it was a lot more fun when Heartless jumped at your face._

"You know, you ain't bad, kids." Said Phil

"Looks like we're headed for the games." Said Sora

"Afraid not." Said Phil

"Why not?" asked Lumen

"Two words: You guys ain't heroes." Said Phil

"Come on!" exclaimed Luz

"And that four words!" I exclaimed

"Wanna become a real hero? Start by mastering this spell." Said Phil

_I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end. My guess is that it's the Thunder spell. But Sora, Lumen, Donald, Goofy, and Luz walked out of the lobby with me following suit._

"Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?" asked Hades

_Hades!_

"Who are you?" asked Donald

"Whoa, hold on there, fuzz boy. Wait, let me guess. You want to enter the games, right? Well, then, hey, get a load of this." Said Hades

_He then produced four passes._

"Passes?" asked Sora

"It's all yours. Good luck, kids. I'm pulling for you, little shorty's." Said Hades

_He then walked away with his back turned to us._

"Don't trust him." I said

"But he's letting us into the games!" Lumen exclaimed as he ran inside with Sora, Luz, Donald, and Goofy

"Lumen! Sora! Luz! *sigh* Never trust a god with fire for hair and brains, especially one that a certain person named moi kicked his sorry ass." I muttered

_I walked back inside and watched the scene unfold._

"Hey, how'd you get this?" asked Phil

"Can we enter the games now?" asked Sora

"Well… I guess so. We start with the preliminaries! Ready for the preliminaries?" asked Phil

"Yeah, let's go!" exclaimed Sora

"You can say that again!" exclaimed Lumen

"Make that double!" exclaimed Luz

"Some real weirdo's signed up for the games. Better watch yourself." Said Phil

"*psst* Phil." I whispered from behind the pedestal

_He walked over to me._

"What's wrong?" asked Phil

"Hades gave them those passes. Gave me one too. Guess he didn't recognize me. Enter me into the games as someone else." I said

"But they'll know it's you if you look like that!" exclaimed Phil

"Not if I do a little glamouring." I said

"What do you have in mind?" asked Phil

"Got any disguises around here?" I asked

_Phil ran into the other room and came back with a mask and a blue jumpsuit._

"This'll do. Thanks." I said

"No prob. I'll wait for ya right here when you finish changing into that outfit." Said Phil

"Thanks." I said

_I was about to change into the outfit when I noticed that Phil also gave me a breastplate and another part of the mask as part of the top. When I finally changed into the outfit, I noticed the design of the bottom part of the mask was sky blue with a weird eye symbol on it. I could barely recognize myself in this outfit._

"Whoa, I can barely recognize ya! Alright, got any names in mind?" asked Phil

"Sheik. Enter me as Sheik." I said

"Okay, Sheik it is. Good luck." Said Phil

_Just as he left, one of my key chains changed into something different. When I replaced it with the key chain for Light of the Moon, the Keyblade changed. The hand guard looked like some kind of harp and the blade looked like some kind of sword, and the teeth was the same symbol on my clothing. The chain itself was made from bandages, and a purple medallion that had an inverse triangle with three circles surrounding it. I named the Keyblade, Stealth of the Shadows. I entered into the area, and some Heartless had found their way in. Well, better them than the Unversed. In no time at all, I was done with my round of fun. I walked up to the others when I heard Phil's voice. Well, guess he's giving the pep talk._

"You're no heroes yet, but you ain't doing bad. Lucky you came to me for coaching." Said Phil

_A guy with blond spiky hair wearing a cape, blue pants, blue shirt, brown boots and gloves, and a lot of belts. I suddenly got the chills all over my body._

"Something tells me he'll be a tough one to beat. Who knows, maybe you'll end up facing him." Said Phil

_After two more rounds, I went up to Phil to talk to him again, but with Sora, Luz, Lumen, Donald, and Goofy around, I can't exactly do that easily._

"Say, you're better than I thought, kids! Wish he was here to see this." Said Phil

"Who?" asked Sora

"Hercules. He's a hero if there ever was one. Too bad he's off visiting his father." Said Phil

_After a couple more rounds, I learned from Phil that Lumen and Sora were going to duke it out. This wasn't gonna be good. Sora and Lumen are almost on the exact same level. If something caused the darkness within him to reawaken, I could never forgive myself. I watched closely as Sora and Lumen began to clash Keyblade to Keyblade. Things were looking good so far, until I noticed a flash of darkness on Lumen's hand. Sora still managed to win though. Lumen, is the darkness closer to your heart than I thought?_

"That's the power of the Keyblade!" Sora exclaimed while doing his victory pose

"I can't believe I lost!" exclaimed Lumen

"It was close, believe me on that one." Said Luz

"Luz! Hey, you Sheik here are gonna be next in the arena!" exclaimed Phil

"That's your name?" asked Luz

"Is there a problem with that?" I asked

"Um, no." said Luz

_We both got onto the arena, and took our places._

"I'll what hides under that mask!" exclaimed Luz

"The rivalry between friends. Almost makes me jealous. Let's do this." I said as I summoned Stealth of the Shadows

"A Keyblade?" wondered Luz

_I struck first before Luz had a change to recover from the shock of seeing my Keyblade. Halfway through the battle, part of my mask slipped off, but it was enough for her to recognize me._

"Hikaru! What are you…" started Luz

"Shh, I'm undercover. Remember the person who gave us those passes?" I asked

"Yeah." Said Luz

"I've been on this world before, and I've met him. His name is Hades, and he's trouble." I said

"How do you know that?" asked Luz

"Because he forced one of my friends to use the darkness." I said

_I noticed that Hades was watching in the shadows. I couldn't risk more conversation._

"Make it look good." I said

_I raised my Keyblade into the air as if I was preparing for a final strike when Luz cast a spell._

"Thunder!" exclaimed Luz

_Using my Keyblade as a lightning rod, her spell effectively shocked me. It wasn't enough to wipe Hikaru out, but I didn't say Sheik couldn't call it quits. I collapsed onto the ground when Luz made her victory pose._

"Yes! I win, you lose!" exclaimed Luz

_She snapped out of her victory when I struggled to get up. Then again, a ten pound breastplate isn't exactly light._

"Hi… I mean, Sheik, are you okay?" asked Luz

"That was quite the shock to the system." I said

"Sorry." Said Luz

"It's okay. There's still the next game." I said

_As I walked away, I turned my head and gave a wink to Luz. I took a seat to watch the rest of the tournament. I watched as Sora was facing off against the guy from earlier. Somehow, I was getting a bad feeling about him. Suddenly, Hades appeared right next to me. This is not my day._

"Oh yeah, you must be bummed that you lost the tournament!" exclaimed Hades

"What do you want?" I asked

"A chance Mr. Sheik, to fight against that girl you lost against. Must be hard pickings sir. Nothing like Cloud down there. He's a real looker." Said Hades

"Two things. One, I threw the match. Two, I'm a girl." I said

"Holy Hydras! You're a girl?-! But why did you throw the match?" asked Hades

"I sense great potential in her. I didn't need to waste my energy." I said

"Sheesh, women, I can never understand them." Hades muttered as he walked away

_I continued watching the rest of Sora's match when I saw that he won against Cloud. Suddenly, a huge three-headed dog entered the arena! He was about to attack when Hercules lifted him up. Wow, he really got a makeover the last time I was here._

"Herc!" exclaimed Phil

"Phil, get them out of here!" exclaimed Hercules

_Luz, Sora, Lumen, Donald, and Goofy ran out of the arena while I stayed put._

"What are you doing, you need to get out of here!" exclaimed Hercules

"Nice to see you again too Hercules." I said

"That voice… Hikari?" asked Hercules

"Yep. That's me." I said

"Nice to see you again. Now, what do you say we show him who's boss around here?" asked Hercules

"You got it." I said

_Luz's P.O.V._

_We had all ran back inside into the Coliseum lobby after seeing that Three-Headed Dog, but Hikaru was still inside the arena. Did she actually think she stood a chance?_

"Whew, that was close! That was Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld. Herc and that Sheik guy should be able to handle him. But then again, maybe not… This doesn't look good." Said Phil

_Hikaru needed our help, like it or not. Sora, Lumen, and I made our way to the door._

"Kids, you're not entering the arena, are ya? This ain't just some match! This is for real!" exclaimed Phil

"I'm not afraid." Said Sora

"Neither am I." said Lumen

"You can decide if we're hero material or not." I said

"Careful kids." Said Phil

_Hikari's P.O.V._

_Hercules was carrying an unconscious Cloud while I ditched the Sheik outfit. Unfortunately, we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. The dog then turned around as I saw Lumen, Sora, Luz, Donald, and Goofy enter the arena! As much as I wanted to say that they were crazy, we needed all the help we could get. Hercules took this as his cue to leave._

"Kids, I got two words of advice for you: Attack!" exclaimed Phil

_I didn't even care about the fact that that was one word. All the dog was doing was attacking with fireballs, and sometimes it would give us a nasty bite. Sure, Hercules and I managed to wear it out a bit, but it still wasn't enough for the time being. When it rose up on its hind legs, it then came down with enough force for a shockwave. It definitely was giving us a bit of a fight. Suddenly, I saw Lumen jump into the air and hit it on the head, and a sudden wave of darkness emerged from his Keyblade. It was enough to take him out, for good. For a moment, I could've sworn I saw the Keyblade he used when he was under Xehanort's control. Darkness has taken root, but how long has it been there? After the dog attack, we were back in the arena lobby. Phil was reading us something from a scroll, which I bet is pretty important._

"Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further…" started Phil

"Hey! What do you mean 'junior heroes'?" asked Donald

"You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero." Said Phil

"So, what does it take?" asked Goofy

"Well, that's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves. Just the way that I did." Said Hercules

"No problem. We'll start by proving ourselves in the games." Said Sora

"There ain't gonna be any games for a while. Gotta clean up the mess from that last battle first." Said Phil

"Okay, we'll be back." Said Luz

_Sora, Lumen, Donald, Goofy, and Luz walked out the door while I got the Sheik disguise out._

"Thanks for letting me borrow this." I said

"Nah, you can keep it. Looks good on ya. Who knows, you might need it someday." Said Phil

"Thanks." I said

"You know, I still can't believe those squirts actually beat Cerberus." Said Phil

"Just between the three of us, we'd already worn Cerberus down by the time those three little guys jumped in." said Hercules

"My lips are sealed." Said Phil

"Mine too. Anyhow, it was nice seeing you again. If you see Zack, tell him I said 'hi'." I said

"Actually, that's not possible." Said Hercules

"What do you mean?" I asked

"He disappeared a few years ago. We don't know where he is." Said Hercules

"Oh. Well, thanks anyways. See ya." I said

_Third Person P.O.V._

"I can't believe you didn't tell her the truth Herc." Said Phil

"I think that's something she needs to find out for herself." Said Hercules

_Hikari's P.O.V._

_I caught up to the others as we saw Cloud sitting down on the steps of the Coliseum entrance._

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Sora

"Yeah." Said Cloud

"So, why did you go along with him, anyway?" asked Lumen

"I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light." Said Cloud

"You'll find it." Said Luz

"Yeah, I mean, we're all still searching too." I said

"For your light?" asked Cloud

_We all nodded our heads._

"Don't lose sight of it." Said Cloud

"How about a rematch sometime? Fair and square, no dark powers involved." Said Sora

"I think I'll pass." Cloud said as he moved some of his bangs out of his face

_Somehow, I get the feeling that we'll meet again._

_**Done and done! Whew, this took me a while, but hey, I'm finally done! Special thanks goes to Keybladeauraofpie for the Keyblade Hikari uses while she's in disguise. Brownie points are available for whoever can get the reference in this chapter. Please review, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Kan dao ni!**_


	7. Back to Traverse Town

Chapter 6: Back to Traverse Town

_**What's up people? It's me, sakuraphoenix, and I'm back with a brand new chapter of Journey of Hearts! I know we've all been waiting for this chapter (especially for those Riku fans out there), so I'll cut to the chase**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also do not own Rita, Reina, or Yukie. They belong to D.J. Scales.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_The ride back to Traverse Town was anything but eventful. When we landed, I suddenly saw Leon and that woman in pink, whom I learned from our travels was named Aerith. Where were they going? When I blinked, they disappeared._

"So, where do we go?" asked Sora

"We could check out the hotel Leon and his crew stay at." Said Luz

"Sounds like a… huh?" I wondered

_I saw a blur of blue in the distance. No, it couldn't be._

"Um, sounds like a plan. Go on ahead, I'll catch up." I said

_I ran off in the direction where I saw the blur of blue. From a distance I saw the girl and a bunch of Heartless! I was about to attack when I saw her use Magic Hour. I know that spell! There's only one person I know who can perform that spell._

"Aqua! Aqua!" I exclaimed

_She just ran off as I was calling her name. Did Aqua forget me? No, that can't be the case. Then again, why wouldn't she be in the Land of Departure? That's when I noticed Sora and the others._

"Sora! Lumen! Luz! Donald! Goofy!" I exclaimed

"Hikaru! Why'd you run off like that?" asked Luz

"Thought I saw an old friend. Lost her though." I said

"Well, you can help us out with this. We got word from Yuffie that Leon could be here." Said Lumen

"Looks like it's blocked off. Don't worry, I can fix that." I said as I began cracking my knuckles

_I charged up a ball of light, and threw it at the bars, causing the blocked bars to collapse._

"Too easy." I said

"Alright, let's go!" exclaimed Sora

_We went through the cavern, and boy was it dark! We all eventually saw a light ahead, and found Leon and Aerith._

"So, you found the Keyhole." Said Leon

"Yeah." Said Sora

"The Keyblade locked it automatically." Said Lumen

"Good." Said Aerith

"Every world among the stars has a Keyhole. And each one leads to the heart of that world. There must be one in this town as well." Said Leon

"What do you mean?" asked Luz

"It was in Ansem's report." Said Aerith

"The Heartless can enter through the Keyhole and do something to the world's core." Said Leon

"What happens to the world?" I asked

_Believe me; I'm new to this stuff too. I just knew that Heartless plus Keyhole equals bad news._

"In the end, it disappears." Said Aerith

"WHAT?-!" Donald, Goofy, Sora, Lumen, Luz, and I exclaimed in unison

"That's why your keys are so important." Said Leon

"Please lock the Keyholes. You're the only ones who can." Said Aerith

"I don't know…" Sora trailed off

"Seeing other worlds would probably serve you well." Said Leon

"Yeah!" exclaimed Donald

"We gotta find your friends! And King Mickey!" exclaimed Goofy

_I just realized something. He said 'King Mickey' both here and before we landed in the Deep Jungle. Does this mean that the Mickey I know is the same Mickey they're looking for?_

"I guess you're right…" Luz trailed off

"Okay!" exclaimed Lumen

"Anyhow, business. So Leon, these Gummi blocks that we found seem to be different from the others we've found. Do you know what it's for?" I asked

"Ask Cid. He should know." Said Aerith

"You mean gramps? Alright." Said Lumen

"Wait you six, take this with you." Said Leon

_He gave us some kind of stone. Wonder what it's for._

"This stone holds some mysterious power. I've been carrying it for luck. I want you to hold onto it." Said Leon

"How do you use it?" asked Luz

_I would take his pause of silence as 'I don't know'. Some warrior he is. We made our way back to Cid's place, and when we showed him the Gummi blocks, he was really looking at them closely._

"What've you got there?" asked Cid

_When he got a closer look, he recognized them._

"Hey! Well, if it ain't a Gummi block." Said Cid

"Yep." Said Donald

"What's this one for?" asked Goofy

"You're kiddin' me! You're flying a Gummi ship and you know nothin' about navigation Gummis? Bunch of pinheads. Interspace ain't no playground." Said Cid

"So there's a lot we don't know. So what?-!" I exclaimed

"We have to use the Gummi ship to go to other worlds." Said Sora

"We don't have another choice." Said Lumen

"There are the Lanes Between, but only a full-fledged Keyblade Master, or someone who can wield the Keyblade and know what he or she is doing can use them. Plus, there's the added bonus of Keyblade Armor. But that's a story for another day." I said

"Whoa, easy. I didn't know. No hard feelings, alright? Well, I guess I could lend y'all a hand, then." Said Cid

"Thanks." Said Luz

"Basically, with navigation Gummis, you can go to new places. You want one for your ship, right?" asked Cid

_We all nodded._

"I'll install it for you. But I got this thing I gotta go deliver first." Said Cid

"What do you need to deliver?" asked Sora

"Just this book. It's real old. When the guy brought it in, it was practically falling apart. Too beat up to restore it to the way it was. But overall, I did a decent job puttin' it back together. Anyway, you mind deliverin' it for me?" asked Cid

"Sure no prob. Count on us." Said Lumen

"Thanks. It's the old house past the Third District. Look for a big fire sign." Said Cid

_He handed me the book, and I recognized it! It belonged to that crazy old magician, Merlin! Just then, some kind of tremor shook the place, and a bell was ringing._

"Wh-what was that?" I asked

"Hmm? The bell at the gizmo shop is ringing. Go check it out if you want, but deliver that book for me first. When you're done, stop by the house in the Third District, I'll be there." Said Cid

_We went to the third district, and as we were about to enter the house, I could've sworn that this time I saw not only a flash of blue, but of red too. Weird. We entered inside the house, avoided the gigantic lake in front of us, and made it inside. Man, it was pitch black in here._

"Light Flare." I said

_A small version of fire appeared in my hand, giving us some light. Sora seemed to be seeing something, as was Luz._

"Kairi?" Sora and Luz asked in unison

"Sora? Luz?" asked Goofy

_They looked back at us, and then back at the place they were staring at._

"Well, well. You arrived sooner than I expected." Said an elderly voice

_I turned to see Merlin. He hasn't changed much._

"Merlin!" I exclaimed

"You know him?" asked Donald

"Well, not really, but his reputation pursues him. He's a magician from my home world." I said

"Wait, you knew we were coming?" asked Luz

"Of course. And your face young girl, I can't seem to remember you, but I feel like I've met you before." Said Merlin

"So, um, is he a Heartless?" asked Lumen

"Nope. He's a somebody, like you and me." I said

"Oh, my. No. My name is Merlin, as your friend over there has said. As you can see, I am a sorcerer. I spend much of my time traveling. It's good to be home. Your king has requested my help." Said Merlin

"King Mickey?" asked Goofy

"Yes, indeed. Donald, Goofy, and who might you four young lads be?" asked Merlin

"I'm Sora." Said Sora

"Luz." Said Luz

"Lumen." Said Lumen

"My name is Hikaru." I said

"Such wisdom in your eyes Hikaru. Are you by chance a Keyblade Master, who has passed the exam?" asked Merlin

"Indeed. I'm a full-fledged Keyblade Master. I passed my exam about a month or so ago." I said

"Ah, so these three have found the key." Said Merlin

"What did the king ask you to do?" asked Donald

"Just a moment…" Merlin trailed off

_He put down his bag, and stood on the stone circle._

"Presto!" exclaimed Merlin

_His bag opened by itself, and a bunch of things popped out. They eventually grew bigger, when I could make out just what exactly they were. Now this looked like a well-lit room, though messy in some places._

"There, now. Ahem. Your king asked me to train you in the art of magic. Master Hikaru is an exception since she is a Keyblade Master." Said Merlin

"Please, just call me Hikaru. I'm still not used to being called 'Master Hikaru'." I said

"Ah, forgive me. We can start anytime you like. Let me know when you're ready to begin the training. Oh, and one more thing." Said Merlin

_He pointed his wand at a small carriage, and Cinderella's Fairy Godmother appeared. Oh dear, more familiar faces._

"Hello, I'm the Fairy Godmother. Your king asked me to help, too. I will assist throughout your journey." Said the Fairy Godmother

"I do not know how much I can be of help, but do stop by anytime." Said Merlin

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We brought this." I said

"Oh, that book… So, Cid asked you to bring this. Thank you. You wish to know what kind of book it is? I don't even know myself. In fact, it's not mine. Somehow, it found its way into my bag one day. It was such a curious book, I asked Cid to repair it for me. Well, I guess I'll put it here somewhere, for now. This book holds a great secret. The missing pages will unlock it. I'll leave the book over there. Do look at it whenever you like. My best regards to Cid for repairing it for me. Oh, and about that stone of yours… you should ask the Fairy Godmother about that." Said Merlin

"Considering that Leon doesn't know what it is, it's nice to know something around here." Said Lumen

"Lumen!" I scolded

"What?" asked Lumen

_We walked over to the Fairy Godmother._

"Do you know what this is?" asked Sora

"Oh, the poor thing! He has turned into a summon gem." Said the Fairy Godmother

"A summon gem?" I asked

"This little creature lived in a world that was consumed by darkness. When a world vanishes, so do its inhabitants. But this one had such a strong heart; he became a gem instead of vanishing with his world." Said the Fairy Godmother

"Can he regain himself?" asked Luz

"Yes, but only his spirit. Now, watch! Bibbity bobbity boo!" exclaimed the Fairy Godmother

_The light shined in the air and appeared in front of each of us, but finally picked Luz._

"Whenever you call, he will help you. If you find any more of these, bring them to me. Don't worry, when their worlds are restored, they will return there. Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikaru, please help save them." Said the Fairy Godmother

"Don't worry, we will." Said Sora

"Well, that's that." I said

"Where are you going?" asked Lumen

"Outside. Why don't you guys practice your magic? I'll be okay." I said

"Alright, but holler if you need help." Said Luz

"Okay." I said

_I walked outside, and I heard voices. I then saw Aqua right in front of me._

"Aqua! Wait, please. Don't you recognize me? It's me, Hikari." I said

_She turned around, and I saw that it_wasn't_Aqua. It was someone else. She was wearing a low-cut blue corset with light blue puffed sleeves and a high collar that revealed her cleavage. She was also wearing a royal blue trench coat that flares behind which was shorted and pleated in the front. She also wore a pair of dark, elbow-length gloves with a pair of gold bracelets above them. Her stockings were the same color and were connected to her skirt by a garter belt. She also wore a pair of blue high heels._

"Sorry, but my name isn't Aqua." Said the girl

"Yeah, I noticed. I'm sorry for mistaking you." I said

"It's fine, really. So, you're a Keyblade Master, like me." Said the girl

"How do you know about the Keyblade? And how do you know about me?" I asked

"I can tell just by looking at you, and I've known about the Keyblade for quite a while." Said the girl

"Reina! Hey, where are you?" asked another female voice

"Rita, do you have to be so loud?" asked a second female voice

"Excuse me for being concerned." Said Rita

_Two girls then appeared from the alley nearby. One of them had red hair and was wearing a form fitting t-shirt with a V-neck that was long enough to reveal her cleavage and short shorts that were red along with a pair of sneakers. The other girl had black hair with blond streaks was wearing a yellow form-fitting yukata with a blue obi sash. The hem of the yukata was short, so the girl who was wearing it wouldn't fall over, and she was wearing Geta sandals._

"Rita. Yukie." Said Reina

"There you are. We've been looking everywhere for you." Said Rita

_Apparently, she was the red head._

"Sorry, I had a run-in with her." Reina said while pointing to me

"More or less, I had mistaken you for someone else." I said

"It's alright. I'm glad to know that there are other Keyblade Masters out there." Said Reina

_I then noticed Sora and the others exit out of Merlin's place when Heartless suddenly appeared! Sheesh, these guys are persistent. Just then, a guy with blue hair wearing yellow and blue struck them down. Wait a minute, is that… Terra's successor? It is! Riku._

"There you are. What's going on?" asked Riku

"Riku!" Sora and Luz exclaimed in unison

_Sora got to him first, and started pulling the edges of his mouth._

"Hey, hey, cut it out!" exclaimed Riku

"We're not dreaming this time, right?" asked Luz

"I hope not. Took forever to find you." Said Riku

"Riku!" Luz exclaimed while smiling

_She then tackled him with a hug. Huh, guess she likes him._

"Wait a second, where's Kairi?" asked Sora

"Isn't she with you?" asked Riku

_Sora and Luz had a sad look on their faces._

"Well, don't worry. I'm sure she made it off the island, too. We're finally free. Hey, she might even be looking for us now. We'll all be together again soon. Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this…" started Riku

_While he was talking, Sora, Luz, Lumen, and I took out the Heartless that just showed up._

"Leave it to who?" asked Lumen

"Sora, Lumen, Luz, what did you…" started Riku

"We've been looking for you and Kairi, too, with their help." Luz said while motioning to me, Donald, and Goofy

"Who are they?" asked Riku

"Ahem. My name is…" started Donald

"We visited so many places and worlds, looking for you." Said Sora

"Really? Well, what do you know? I never would have guessed." Said Riku

"Oh, and guess what? Sora, Lumen, Luz, and Hikaru are the Keyblade Masters." Said Goofy

"Who would've thought it?" asked Donald

"What's that mean?-!" exclaimed Lumen

"So, this is called a Keyblade?" Riku asked while holding Sora's Keyblade

"Huh? Hey, give it back." said Sora

_He ran up to Riku, but fell flat onto his face._

"You're holding the Keyblade, and it hasn't disappeared back into Sora's hands. Impressive." I said

"What does that mean?-!" exclaimed Sora

"It means Riku is qualified to be a Keyblade Wielder too." I said

"Whoa." Said Luz

"Catch." Said Riku

"Whoa." Sora said as he caught his Keyblade

"Okay, so, you're coming with us, right? We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it!" exclaimed Luz

"No, he can't come!" exclaimed Donald

"What?" asked Lumen

"Forget it!" exclaimed Donald

"Oh come on! He's our friend!" exclaimed Sora

"I don't care!" exclaimed Donald

"Huh? He's gone." Said Goofy

_And Goofy was right!_

"Riku?" Sora, Lumen, and Luz asked in unison

_They walked up to where Riku was._

"Nice going." Luz said with a hint of anger in her voice

"Oh, well. At least he's okay. And who knows? Maybe we'll run into Kairi soon, too." Said Sora

"Yeah, well, you guys go and meet up with Cid and tell him about the book, I'm gonna go look for Riku." I said

"You sure?" asked Lumen

"Hey, he couldn't have gone too far. I'll find him, promise." I said

"We'll go with you." Said Rita

"Thanks, but I feel like this is something that needs to be done myself." I said

"Go on ahead. We'll use this to keep in contact. If there's something important that you need to hear, we'll let you know." Reina said as she tossed some kind of bracelet to me

"Thanks." I said

_I took off in the other direction while Luz, Sora, Lumen, Yukie, Reina, and Rita got to know each other._

_Luz's P.O.V._

_We just saw Cid go into this small house and figured that it was important. We followed them inside._

"Hey, um, where's Hikaru?" asked Cid

"She's looking for their friend. We just saw him a few minutes ago." Said the red-haired girl

"And who are you three?" asked Cid

"I'm Rita." Said the red-head

"And I'm Reina, her sister." Said the blue-haired girl

"My name is Yukie." Said Yukie

"Great, I have something to tell you guys, and Hikaru's not here." Said Cid

"We can contact her. Hikaru, you read?" Reina asked through a bracelet

"Yeah, I hear ya." Said Hikaru

"How's the search for Riku?" I asked

"Trail's gone cold, but that doesn't mean I'm stopping." Said Hikaru

"Way to be a trooper Hikaru!" exclaimed Lumen

"Thanks, so what's up?" asked Hikaru

"Cid has something to share." I said

"So, you guys ever hear of Maleficent? I hear she's in town." Said Cid

"That old bat's still around?-!" exclaimed Hikaru

"You know her?" asked Sora

"Met her once, can't say the feeling's mutual." Said Hikaru

"Who is she?" asked Sora

"A witch, man, she's a witch!" exclaimed Cid

"She's the reason this town is full of Heartless. Don't take her lightly." Said Leon

"She's been using the Heartless for years." Said Aerith

"We lost our world, thanks to her." Said Leon

"One day, a swarm of Heartless took over our world!" exclaimed Cid

"That was nine years ago." Said Leon

_Hikari's P.O.V._

_Nine years? No way! If… if only I wasn't trapped in the realm of darkness! If only Xehanort didn't possess Lumen with the darkness! I could've saved their world!_

"I got out of that mess and came here with these guys." Said Cid

"That's awful!" exclaimed Donald

"Our ruler was a wise man named Ansem." Said Leon

_Luz's P.O.V._

_It must be hard for them, living in this place when your world was lost._

"Did you say 'Ansem'?-!" exclaimed Hikaru

"Yeah, why?" asked Leon

"The ruler of my world had the same name! I think… we're from the same world!" exclaimed Hikaru

_Everyone in the room was shocked at Hikaru's confession._

"Unfortunately, he dedicated his life to studying the Heartless." Said Leon

"His report should tell us how to get rid of the Heartless." Said Cid

"Where's this report?" asked Sora

"We don't know. It got scattered when our world was destroyed." Said Leon

"I'm sure Maleficent's got most of the pages." Said Cid

_Hikari's P.O.V._

_I was continuing my search for Riku when I heard a voice._

"You see? It's just as I told you. While you toiled away trying to find your dear friend, they quite simply replaced you with some new companions. Evidentially, now they value them far more than they do you. You're better off without those wretched boys and that girl. Now think no more of them, and come with me. I'll help you find what you're searching for." Said a female voice

"It's Maleficent!" I exclaimed

_Suddenly, I had a sudden flare of pain in my chest and I was on my knees gasping for breath when I suddenly saw something, and I saw words appear in the air in front of me._

**Through sundered eyes, darkness awakens.**

**Through twisted words, a heart is lost.**

**What darkness gains, darkness yields.**

**The seeress of light soon awakens.**

_I saw what appeared to be Riku, making some kind of deal with a man in a cloak. I also saw a corridor of darkness open. Two people in black coats appeared, and Ankoku was following them. It can't be. Ankoku, has your heart too fell into darkness? After that, everything turned black._

_Third Person P.O.V._

_Maleficent was looking over where Hikari was lying down on the ground._

"So she's the seeress. If I had to make a guess, she's unaware of her powers. Perfect. As long as she remains blissfully unaware of them, it'll be easier in the long run." Said Maleficent

_Luz's P.O.V._

"So, you delivered that book?" asked Cid

"Yep!" I exclaimed

"Well, that navigation Gummi's installed and ready to go. You find another one, bring it to me. I threw in a warp Gummi for the heck of it. Now you can jump to worlds you've been to before. Well, better get back to my real job." Said Cid

"So, what is your real job?" asked Lumen

"What's my real job? You'll see. See me at the First District." Said Cid

"I've been thinking about the bell in the Second District." Said Aerith

"The one that rang a bit ago?" I asked

"The one above the gizmo shop. There's a legend about it, you know." Said Yuffie

"But it's all boarded up. Nobody can get in there." Said Aerith

"Heck, go check it out. Ring it three times to see if anything happens." Said Cid

_We exited the house, and looked around for Hikaru. Where was she? Lumen then looked over the rail and had a shocked look on his face. He ran down the stairs, but before we could follow, we heard him say:_

"Hikaru! Hikaru!"

_Hikari's P.O.V._

"Hikaru! Hikaru!" exclaimed a male voice

_That voice… Lumen? I opened my eyes to see myself lying on the ground with Lumen's hand on my back trying to shake me awake._

"Lumen?" I asked

"Whew, you're okay. What were you doing taking a nap right here?" asked Lumen

"Ha-ha, and it's a long story, with good news, bad news, more bad news, and I don't know if it's good or bad news, news." I said

"Start with the bad." Said Luz

"Maleficent! I just heard her talking up the nonsense I know her to talk up!" I exclaimed

"Yikes. Cid was right." Said Yukie

"So-so news?" asked Lumen

"I think I have the ability to see visions of the future." I said

"Whoa. That's cool. And the good?" asked Sora

"I think I found Riku." I said

"Where is he?" asked Luz

"That's where the more bad news kicks in. Riku's with Maleficent." I said

"No. Not Riku. Why would he do such a thing?" asked Luz

"Maleficent has a way with words. She can manipulate someone to do her bidding without them even realizing it. He may not even realize that he's being tricked." I said

"Well, we're heading off to the Gizmo shop now. You up for it?" asked Lumen

"I should be." I said

_We headed for the Gizmo shop after getting the generator to work right, but once we were inside, the Heartless were waiting for us. We all eventually managed to get topside, and found some wooden boards in front of something. My guess, the bell. We all rang it three times, and as the bell finished ringing the third time, I saw a fountain in the distance, and then I saw the Keyhole to Traverse Town! We went to the fountain, but just before we could seal it, the Heartless we faced the first time we entered Traverse Town was back!_

"I thought we already beat this thing!" exclaimed Lumen

"Guess not." I said

"Oh well, you know what they say. The bigger they are, the harder they fall." Rita said as she summoned a Keyblade

_Rita's Keyblade was red, like, completely red. The handle of the Keyblade looked like a flame that you would see in a fireplace, the blade was a long stream of fire, and the 'key' part was the character for fire. The keychain was a feather, maybe from a phoenix? Reina then summoned hers. Her Keyblade was blue, like water. The handle was shaped like a trident, the blade part looked like a wave of water, and the 'key' was the character for water. The keychain was a crystal tear. Yukie's Keyblade on the other hand looked like the physical manifestation of a wind storm. The 'key' was the character for wind while the handle was a stream of air. The keychain was a tornado. Anyhow, back to the Heartless. Since we fought it before, it was easy to defeat it, until it turned upside down, and opened its face guard. I guess it's pulling out all the stops now. It wasn't until I realized that the head was the weak point was when I began charging up one of my spells. I waited until it was in range, and then…_

"Light Shot!" I exclaimed

_A large ball of light appeared from my Keyblade and we can now say 'bye-bye' to the Heartless. A strong wind then blew in the area. I'm guessing that means Luz, Sora, and Lumen learned the spell Aero. Lumen then walked up to the Keyhole and pointed his Keyblade at it, promptly sealing it. Another Gummi appeared from the Keyhole. Score! Just then, a feeling of dread washed over my shoulders. I turned around to see a corridor of darkness opening up, and from it, the two people in the black coats and Ankoku. I have a bad feeling now. I saw this coming._

"Well, well, well, look what we have here. A pathetic Keyblade Master of Light. And here we thought we saw the last of you years ago." Said the female in the black coat

"Um, do you know these people Hikaru?" asked Goofy

"I wish I didn't. Stop hiding under those hoods Master Sarah, Master Kyo." I said

_They then revealed their faces, but something didn't seem quite right._

"It's been too long." Said Kyo

"Well, not long enough." I said

"Ankoku, take care of her friends. We'll deal with the Keyblade Master personally." Said Sarah

"Alright." Said Ankoku

_She rushed past me in a blur of darkness and I could hear the sound of Keyblades clashing. I summoned out Star of Roses. I needed the big guns for this one. When we were far away from the group, Sarah and Kyo summoned new weapons. Sarah summoned a pair of claws while Kyo summoned a whip._

"Wow, so you two have learned some new tricks. I'm impressed, not!" I exclaimed

"Laugh all you want to Hikari, you can't get past this." Said Sarah

_Kyo then threw his whip at me, and I dodged it, but out of the shadows came two threads of darkness. Strangely enough, they looked like Kyo's whip. Sarah then went on the attack, but I managed to move so that she only scratched my arm. I then noticed something green in the scratch._

"Poison." I said

"You're right. Your death will be slow, but full of pain, just like how Kira's was." Said Sarah

_Kira? No, it can't be._

"What? Grandfather's… dead?" I asked

"That's right. You should've seen how he begged for mercy as he lay dying." Said Kyo

"I'll… make you… pay for that!" I exclaimed

_My entire body was surrounded by light, and I focused all of my energies into my hands. The bonds were gone because my light had made the shadows around me disappear. I shot a concentrated beam of light at them, and they clutched one of their eyes in pain. Sarah being her left, Kyo, his right. Ankoku quickly ran up to them._

"You may have won this battle, but you haven't seen the last of us!" Sarah exclaimed as she disappeared in a corridor of darkness

_The others came running up to me, and I collapsed, not only weak from the battle and the poison, but also from the fact that the one person who actually cared about me is dead._

"Hikaru, are you okay?" asked Luz

"No, I'm not. I won't be until I've destroyed them! I owe that much to the legacy of my grandfather! He was murdered! By them! I won't rest until I've defeated them!" I exclaimed

_Dizzy from the poison, I lost consciousness._

_Lumen's P.O.V._

_I just saw Hikaru pass out. Not good._

"She's been poisoned. We'll have to give her an antidote." Said Rita

"I have one right here. She'll make it. If there's anything that's true about her, she's one tough Keyblade Master." Said Reina

_I carried her on my back as we made it back to the First District and back to Cid._

"Hey, now that was quick! Now you know. I'm in the Gummi block business. Workin' on your Gummi ship sure was great. Come again, and I'll give you a big discount. Oh yeah, I have this for you. Go ahead, take it. It's a special giveaway. Hey, what happened to her?" asked Cid

"We fought these guys with black coats. One of them poisoned her. She'll be okay though. We just gave her an antidote." Said Reina

"That's a relief. Huh, hey, got another navigation Gummi there, eh? I'll bet you want it installed." Said Cid

"Yeah, please." Said Sora

"Hmm… looks like this is another one of those blocks that come in sets. You gotta find the mate to this one." Said Cid

"Okay, we'll come back soon." Said Luz

"We have to finish checking up on something first. We'll meet with you later. Promise." Said Rita

"Okay." I said

_I gently set Hikaru down on one of the seats of the Gummi ship as we took off for a new world._

_Third Person P.O.V._

_Sarah and Kyo were in The World That Never Was trying to see if their eyes still worked._

"Well, didn't expect to see you two here." Said a male voice

_A man with black and grey hair in a ponytail, gold eyes, pointed ears, and was wearing the black coat and an eye patch walked up to them._

"Xigbar." Said Sarah

"Rashax, Yxok, didn't expect to see you two here. Man, what happened to you? You look like you had a run-in with a Keyblade Master." Said Xigbar

"That's exactly what happened. Master Hikari is back." Said Yxok

"Master Hikari? She fell off the grid years ago! You sure it's her?" asked Xigbar

"Yes, who else can handle light the way she can?" asked Rashax

"Good point. Xemnas is not going to be pleased." Said Xigbar

"Regardless, the plan continues." Said Yxok

_**Done and done! Whew, this really took me a while, but I'm finally done! Please review, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Kan dao ni!**_


	8. Agrabah

Chapter 7: Agrabah

_**Hey everyone! It's me sakuraphoenix, and I'm back with a new chapter! I know it's been a while, but hey, I've been busy like crazy! At least I had a four day weekend, again, this time not due to hurricane-like conditions. Side effects may include more story updates and some sore eyes from reading. Anyhow, disclaimer time.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also do not own Luz. She belongs to Keybladeauraofpie. I also do not own Rita, Reina, and Yukie. They belong to D.J. Scales.**_

_**This will begin in Luz's point of view, and enjoy!**_

_After we left Traverse Town, Lumen never left Hikaru's side. I mean, here I was, pacing across the ship, and Lumen's watching over a stranger! We barely know her, and he's watching over her as if he's known her for years!_

"Is everything okay Luz?" asked Sora

"Sora! Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked as I wrapped a lock of my hair around my finger

"You're lying. Every time you do, you wrap a lock of your hair around your finger. You like Lumen, don't you?" asked Sora

"What gave you that idea? I mean, why would I be jealous of some strange girl we just met?" I asked

"I never said you were jealous." Said Sora

"Wha?" I wondered

"You're jealous of Hikaru?" asked Sora

"Okay, yeah, I am. We just met her a few weeks ago, figured out that she's a Keyblade Master, and to top it off, she managed to drive away those two in the black coats despite being poisoned. I mean, we had trouble fighting against that Ankoku girl." I said

"Well, she's been fighting the Heartless longer than we have." Said Sora

"I don't think that's it. I think she's hiding something." I said

_We suddenly pulled to a stop, and I noticed that Lumen caught Hikaru before she hit the ground. Why doesn't he catch me like that? Sora and I ran up to the front and saw something in front of us. It looked like some kind of hole._

"What in the world is that?" I wondered

"Got me." Said Goofy

"It does look suspicious. Maybe it leads to another world." Said Dale

_Donald drove through, and we ended up not only in the middle of a swarm of Heartless ships, but we were also in the middle of an asteroid field! One of the asteroids hit the ship, not good._

"What's going on up there?" Hikaru asked as she ran up

"Look who's finally woken up." I said sarcastically

"An asteroid field. We can't clear it with the Gummi ship alone." Hikaru said while ignoring my comment

"Got anything else in mind?" I asked

"As a matter of fact, we're looking at help right now." Hikaru said

_I noticed three people in some kind of armor riding some weird vehicles. Who are they, and why are they helping us?_

"Remind me to thank them once we've touched down on the next world." Said Hikaru

"Do you know them?" asked Luz

"We've just met them. Then again, I'm not surprised you don't know it's them. Keyblade Armor, comes in handy in times like these. Anyhow, that's our stop just up ahead." Said Hikaru

_Hikari's P.O.V._

_Once Donald landed the ship, we stepped out, and boy was it hot! Don't get me wrong, the Keyblade Graveyard had heat waves from time to time, but this was steaming! The Lanes Between opened up, and Rita, Reina, and Yukie, all clad in Keyblade Armor, descended. They disembarked their gliders, and took of their armor._

"Rita, Reina, Yukie, thanks for the save back there." I said

"I'm glad to see you're alright. Looks like we administered the antidote just in time." Said Reina

"Yeah, any later, and the worlds would have one Keyblade Master less." I said

_We were suddenly surrounded by Heartless!_

"Oh man, you guys are relentless, aren't you?-!" I exclaimed

"Hold on, I wanna try that summon gem." Said Luz

_She pulled out the summon gem, which promptly glowed green, and a green orb appeared on the top of her Keyblade. She raised her Keyblade into the air, and a lion appeared as he gave a mighty roar, which promptly sent the Heartless packing._

"Awesome! I have a lion! I have a lion!" exclaimed Luz

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever." Said Rita

"Hey, be nice. At least she has a summon gem." I said

"Hey, before we start arguing, why don't we look around? There has to be someone here who can help us." Said Yukie

"Sounds good." I said

"Whatever." Said Rita

_We walked into an alley, and I saw a girl hiding behind some boxes._

"Who's there? Hello?" asked the girl

"Are you okay?" I asked

"Yes. I'm Jasmine. My father is the sultan of Agrabah." Said Jasmine

"Uh… so that makes you a princess." Said Goofy

"But now he has been deposed by Jafar, who now controls the city." Said Jasmine

"He's an accident waiting to happen." I muttered

"Jafar?" asked Goofy

"You haven't heard of him? He's the royal vizier. He's gained evil powers and seized Agrabah. He's desperately looking for something – something he calls the 'Keyhole.' Jafar caught me trying to escape, but he helped me." Said Jasmine

"Who helped you?" asked Sora

"We were hiding nearby, but he left a while ago to take care of something. Oh, I hope Aladdin's alright." Said Jasmine

"Aladdin? Where might I find this street rat?" asked a male voice

_We looked up and saw a guy wearing a black outfit with a red cloak with a matching hat and a staff that looked like a snake. Even his beard gave me the creeps. Jasmine seemed to recognize him. He must be Jafar._

"Jasmine, allow me to find you more suitable company, my dear princess. These little rats won't do, you see." Said Jafar

"Jasmine, run!" exclaimed Lumen

_Jasmine got out of there as we summoned our Keyblades._

"Ah, the boys and girls who hold the keys." Said Jafar

_More Heartless showed up. Great, I hate these guys. At least they were holding swords, which made things a little easier for us, but what they didn't know is that I'm also a sword master. I didn't just train with the Keyblade. I can also wield a sword when I wanted to. When one of them dropped their sword, I used it against them before sending them back to where they belonged with their own weapon. In no time at all, they were all gone, but Jafar went after Jasmine. Suddenly, I saw a boy entering somewhere, and this place was close. I began to walk to the place I saw where he was._

"Hikaru, what are you doing?" asked Luz

"I think I saw something, another vision. I think, we can find Jasmine if we go here." I said pointing to where I saw the boy last

_I think he climbed up the pole, but when we entered, no one was here, but I did see something moving. We moved whatever was on top of it, and it flew. It was a freaking flying carpet!_

"That carpet flew off towards the desert. Let's follow it, Sora!" exclaimed Donald

_We all ran towards where the carpet flew off too, but how are we going to find a carpet in all this sand? Just then, the carpet appeared again, but there was only enough room for four to be on it at once._

"Sora, Donald, Goofy, you guys can ride the carpet if you want." I said

"Why don't you?" asked Sora

"There's only enough room for four, besides, I got a trick of my own." I said

"Whatever. Why don't we have a race? First one to wherever the carpet wants us to go wins!" Luz exclaimed as she summoned Simba

_She climbed onto him and ran off just as Sora, Lumen, Donald, and Goofy got onto the carpet. I summoned out my Keyblade Glider the exact same moment Rita, Reina, and Yukie did. When we arrived, apparently, Yukie, Rita, Reina, and I were first, Luz was second, and look whose last. We didn't have time to rest from the travel because Heartless appeared out of nowhere in the sand! One of them caught me off guard, and I saw the boy in that vision from earlier! Not long after I saw him, more Heartless showed up._

"Gawrsh, not again!" exclaimed Goofy

_The boy then pulled out some kind of lamp and rubbed it. What's it going to do? Summon the Genie of the Lamp?_

"Genie, get rid of these guys!" exclaimed the boy

_Hey, so that wasn't just a story! Did my grandfather once visit this land? I can think about that later, because this big, blue guy with a tail just appeared out of the lamp!_

"Wish Number One, coming right up!" exclaimed the genie

_With a snap of his fingers, it was bye-bye Heartless. We promptly introduced ourselves and explained the situation._

"I see… Thanks, Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikaru, Rita, Reina, Yukie." Said Aladdin

"Aladdin, what are you doing out here?" asked Lumen

"Same old stuff. Hunting legendary treasure. Just paid a visit to the Cave of Wonders. I found that magic carpet, and this lamp. Legend has it that whoever holds the lamp can summon the…" started Aladdin

"Please kid; leave the intros to a professional. The one and only GENIE OF THE LAMP! Rub-a-dub-dub the lamp and have your dearest wishes granted. Today's winner is… Aladdin! Congratulations!" exclaimed Genie

"Any wish?" asked Donald

"Patience, my fine, feathered friend! Any three wishes! A one wish, a two wish, a three wish. Then I make like a banana and split! Our lucky winner made his first wish, and let me tell you, what a doozy that wish was, so he has two left. So, master, what'll you have for Wish Number Two?" asked Genie

"Hmm… how about making me a fabulously wealthy prince?" asked Aladdin

"Oooh! Money! Royalty! Fame! Why didn't I think of that? Okay, you asked for it! A hundred servants and a hundred camels loaded with gold! Just say the word and I'll deliver it in thirty minutes or less, or your meal's free. Hey, I'll even throw in a cappuccino!" exclaimed Genie

"No, thanks." Said Aladdin

"Okay." Said Genie

"I think I'll put that on hold until we reach Agrabah." Said Aladdin

"Uh, why a prince?" asked Goofy

"You see, there's this girl in Agrabah named Jasmine. But she's a princess, and I'm… aw, she could never fall for a guy like me." Said Aladdin

"Oh. Princess?" wondered Donald

"Jasmine?" wondered Goofy

"That's right! Ugh, I can't believe I completely forgot! She's in trouble, Aladdin!" I exclaimed

"What?-! Well, c'mon, let's get going!" exclaimed Aladdin

_Now Aladdin was on the carpet with Sora, Donald, and Goofy while Lumen was riding with me, Rita, Reina, and Yukie were on their gliders, and Luz was riding Simba._

"Ah, fresh air! The great outdoors!" exclaimed Genie

"You don't get out much, do you?" asked Lumen

"Comes with the job. Phenomenal cosmic powers. Itsy-bitsy living space. It's always three wishes, then back to my portable prison. I'm lucky to see the light of day every century or two. Many years ago, I met this guy. Nice fellow. Wanted to save his daughter from the fate she was given. I couldn't do it though; I wasn't strong enough to take away her curse without killing her. He promised that he'd return one day to set me free, but I never saw him again." Said Genie

"Wait, was his name Kira?" I asked

"Yep! Hey, how'd you know his name?" asked Genie

"He's my grandfather! He used to tell me stories every night about the genie of the lamp. But… he's gone now. And I didn't get a chance to say good-bye." I said sadly

"Wow! Now, that is sad. Don't get me wrong, I've heard plenty of stories, but that's just one of the saddest ones I've ever heard." Said Genie

"Say, Genie, what if I use my last wish to free you from the lamp? What do you think?" asked Aladdin

"You'd do that?" asked Genie

"Genie, it's a promise. After we help Jasmine." Said Aladdin

_We all regrouped back in Aladdin's home and gave him the rest of the info now that we know that he was the same Aladdin that Jasmine was talking about._

"So, Jafar is after Jasmine and this 'Keyhole'." Said Aladdin

"Keyhole, eh? I could swear I've heard about that somewhere before." Said Genie

"Really? Where?" asked Donald

"Don't get your hopes up Donald. For all I know, my grandfather could've mentioned it." I said

"Now, where was it? It's only been 200 years." Said Genie

"Well, anyway, we've got to stop Jafar before it's too late!" exclaimed Luz

_I then began having another vision. This time, it was of Jafar leading Jasmine to some kind of palace._

"I know where she is. She's gone to the palace, and Jafar is with her." I said

"We better hurry then." Said Lumen

_We made it to the palace, and I saw Jasmine with Jafar, just as my vision predicted._

"Setting your sights a little high, aren't you, boy? Back to your hole, street rat. I will not allow you to trouble the princess anymore." Said Jafar

"Jasmine!" exclaimed Aladdin

"I'm so sorry, Aladdin." Said Jasmine

_Suddenly I sensed her heart, and… and… no, impossible! There's no darkness within her! Wait, no darkness? Then that means that she's…_

"Aladdin, Sora, Lumen, Luz, Rita, Reina, Yukie, it's important that we keep her safe." I said

"What's so important about her?" asked Rita

"She's not just a princess." I said

"Are you suggesting that she's…" started Reina

_All I did was nod, and she got the hint. Jasmine is one of the Princesses of Heart._

"Genie, help Jasmine, please." Said Aladdin

_Jafar then turned to see Genie holding Jasmine._

"One wish left! You're making this really easy, you know." Said Genie

"So sorry, boy, I'm afraid your second wish has been denied." Said Jafar

_A bird flew to Jafar, and it had the lamp! Now you why I hate birds, especially parrots._

"I'm sorry, Al." said Genie

_Jasmine then fell into a jar, and this one had legs!_

"And now, I bid you all farewell. Attack!" exclaimed Jafar

_He pulled a disappearing act, and then the jars came to life! It seemed like these Heartless had something up their sleeve. The only thing that was exposed was the head and tail and every other part of the body was hidden in the pots. If we find the one that has Jasmine in it, we get her to safety. The sooner the better. Suddenly, I heard her voice from inside one of the pots. I finally broke her out just as the others took care of the head and the tail, but she was then whisked away._

"Jasmine!" exclaimed Aladdin

_The sound of Jafar's laughter filled the air as Aladdin got an idea as to where he went._

"To the desert! Come on, let's move!" exclaimed Aladdin

_Reina tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to talk to them in private._

"Let me get this straight, you're saying that Jasmine is a Princess of Heart." Said Reina

"That's exactly what I'm saying." I said

"They're nothing but a fairy tale. There's no way seven people like that could exist." Said Rita

"Master Eraqus believed it. Master… I'm so gonna regret this. Master Xehanort knew of the legends, and guess what, he's hell bent on finding them." I said

"Who are they?" asked Yukie

"Keyblade Masters of a past long gone. Come on, we better hurry." I said

_As we got to the desert, we noticed Aladdin taking off with Lumen riding on Simba with Luz. We quickly flew on our gliders to catch up with them. We noticed that the carpet landed in the spot where we first met Aladdin, and then, I saw this gigantic tiger head made completely out of sand, well, burst out of the sand, and let me tell ya, it does not look happy. While some Heartless decided to show up to keep Sora and the others busy, Rita, Reina, Yukie, and I attacked the tiger's head with our Keyblade Gliders. Just then, I noticed that Lumen was surrounded by darkness, and managed to finish off the tiger's head, or whatever was controlling it at least, but now I was worried. The darkness is rooted deep in your heart. Has your heart already crossed the point of no return? We made our way inside, and somehow found ourselves in this dark place, filled with water. While we were looking around, I noticed there was something here, and it looked like it was a page from a storybook. Wait, a storybook? Maybe this is one of the pages from Merlin's book! I carefully placed it inside one of the packs. Good thing they were bigger on the inside. We soon found ourselves in a hidden room, and there was some kind of pillar. It must lead to the top. Just as Sora destroyed part of the pillar, my chest erupted in pain again, and I saw Jafar, Genie, and Jasmine!_

"My first wish, Genie! Show me the Keyhole!" exclaimed Jafar

_He was obviously not happy to do that, but he had no choice, as he was cursed as the genie of the lamp. When the pain faded away, I noticed the others were swimming away. I frantically kicked my legs and moved my arms to catch up with them. We made it into some kind of chamber, and there she was with Jafar, Maleficent!_

"Maleficent!" I exclaimed

_She only smirked as she faded away._

"Jafar, let Jasmine go!" exclaimed Aladdin

"Not a chance. You see, she's a princess, one of seven who somehow hold the key to finding the lock that will open the door." Said Jafar

"Open…" started Goofy

"The door?" finished Donald

"But you fools won't live to see what lies beyond it. Genie! My second wish. Crush them!" exclaimed Jafar

"Genie, no!" exclaimed Aladdin

"Sorry, Al. The one with the lamp calls the shots. I don't have a choice." Said Genie

_Jafar then managed to seal the way to the Keyhole, and blocked the exit. We're trapped! While we managed to get away from Genie's first attack, we still had to come up with a plan. That was when I remembered the story grandfather told me. The one who holds the lamp commands the genie of the lamp, and if the master changes while the old one still has another wish to grant, the wish before it is canceled out._

"Luz! Lumen! I could use your help!" I exclaimed

"What's the plan?" asked Luz

"While everyone else is busy running from Genie, we're gonna get Jafar." I said

_Lumen got the hint and began to fight Jafar full force. Luz and I backed him up with some spells. Just when we thought we were gonna get him, Jafar knocked him out._

"Lumen!" Luz and I exclaimed in unison

"Now your time is up you little street rats." Said Jafar

_My scar acted up in pain as I turned to see Lumen. Darkness began to surround him, and the armor he wore while he was under Xehanort's control appeared. He disappeared in a flash and finished Jafar with the Keyblade Xehanort gave him. Suddenly, the room got colder, and I assumed that their Blizzard spells have just been upgraded. We ran toward the Keyhole and Jasmine after Jafar was defeated. Just then, Lumen changed back into his clothes, but was confused as to what happened. It must've been a subconscious reaction. Luz was about to seal the Keyhole when we heard Jafar, and he said:_

"Genie! My final wish! I want you to make me an all-powerful genie!"

_Genie covered his eyes with one hand, and with the other he zapped Jafar with some magic, and opened up an area under the cave with lava._

"Hope you don't mind getting some burns." Said Luz

"I don't. Hang on. I better keep Jasmine safe. Light Protection." I said

_An upgraded version of Light Shield appeared around her._

"No one who's aligned with the darkness can get into that shield without feeling a lot of pain." I said

_We then jumped down into the volcano, well, not really a volcano, but it sure was hot! We looked for Jafar, and he emerged out of the lava as a red, and scary looking genie. Then, we saw his bird carrying a black lamp. A black lamp? That's Jafar's lamp!_

"Lumen, Luz, you guys are with me." I said

"What do you have in mind this time?" asked Lumen

"You really wanna know?" I asked

"Yeah." Said Luz

"Get. The. Stupid. BIRD!_!_!" I exclaimed

_Sora decided to play the distraction while Reina helped by cooling the place down a notch while Rita and Yukie flew in circles around Jafar with their gliders. That left me, Luz, Lumen, and Aladdin to take care of the stupid bird, and let me tell ya, that bird is stronger than it looks. We finally got the lamp after we knocked out the bird, and it landed in Luz's hands. It's up to her now._

"Jafar, back to your lamp!" exclaimed Luz

_He was sucked into the lamp while the area heated up even more! Wait a minute, their Fire spells have been upgraded again. Just then, a page fluttered and flew towards me. It looked like some kind of report._

"Guys, I think we have a page of Ansem's report!" I exclaimed

_The place shook, and we got out of there. When we got to the higher levels, Jasmine was gone! But how? Unless… no. Someone who's still aligned with light took her. Someone… like Riku._

"Jasmine? Jasmine!" exclaimed Aladdin

_The Keyhole began to glow and Luz pointed her Keyblade at it, and thus locking it. The Keyhole disappeared, and the place shook even more._

"Whoa, we'd better get out of here!" exclaimed Goofy

"Jasmine!" exclaimed Aladdin

_We all got onto our Keyblade Gliders, Lumen held onto me as I started up mine, everyone else got onto the carpet, and we rode for dear life out of the cave. We managed to get out before the cave sunk back into the sand. We then got back to Aladdin's house and explained the situation._

"So, Jasmine's no longer in Agrabah. Guys, let's go find her." Said Aladdin

_I scratched the back of my head in a nervous manner. We couldn't do that._

"Sorry, we can't take you with us." Said Sora

"Wh-why not?" asked Aladdin

"I sure wish we could." Said Goofy

"But we can't. If we take him to another world, we would be…" started Donald

"Muh… mudd…" Goofy tried to say

"Meddling." Said Luz

"Aladdin, we'll find Jasmine. Promise." Said Lumen

"Uh, earth to Al. Hello? You still have one wish left. Look, just say the word. Ask me to find Jasmine for you." Said Genie

"I… I wish… for your freedom, Genie." Said Aladdin

"Al!" exclaimed Genie

_A swirl of magic appeared around Genie, and when the magic dispersed, he had legs and the gold bracelets on his arms were gone. The genie of the lamp is finally free._

"A deal's a deal, Genie. Now you can go anywhere you want. You're your own master. But if you can, it'd be great if you could go along with them and help them find Jasmine." Said Aladdin

"Sorry, Al. I'm done taking orders from others. But a favor, now that's entirely different. I guess I could give that a try. After all, we're pals, right, Al?" asked Genie

"Genie…" started Aladdin

"Just leave it to me!" exclaimed Genie

"Here. Take this with you." Said Aladdin

_He gave Sora Genie's lamp, and I could've sworn that the light from the lamp reflected onto Sora and Lumen_

"Guys, please find Jasmine for me." Said Aladdin

"Don't worry. We will. Promise." Said Luz

_Before we boarded the Gummi ship, I turned to face Rita, Reina, and Yukie._

"Hey, Rita, Reina, Yukie. If you want, you could hitch a ride with us back to Traverse Town." I said

"Are you guys okay with that?" asked Reina

"I'm okay with it, besides, beats using a Keyblade Glider all the time." I said

_The others just nodded at the invite I gave them. We all then boarded the ship and headed back on our way._

_**This is the longest chapter I have ever written so far! Well, there are more to come. Please review, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Kan dao ni!**_


	9. Monstro

Chapter 8: Monstro

_**Hey everyone! It's me, sakuraphoenix, and I'm back with a new chapter! I know that it's been a while, but hey, cut me some slack! I've been busy! Anyway, disclaimer time.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also don't know Luz. She belongs to Keybladeauraofpie. Rita, Reina, and Yukie aren't mine either. They belong to D.J. Scales.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_After the uneventful ride back to Traverse Town, we stocked up on supplies to prepare for the journey ahead. We were about to leave the shop when Sora noticed something, and Jiminy noticed it too._

"Well, well, as I live and breathe! If it isn't Pinocchio!" exclaimed Jiminy

_He then jumped off Sora's shoulder and in front of Pinocchio, and correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't he look like he's made of wood?_

"Oh. Hi, Jiminy." Said Pinocchio

"What in the world are you doing down here?" asked Jiminy

"Um… playing hide-and-seek." Said Pinocchio

_Jiminy then started walking around in a circle._

"I just don't believe it. And here I was, up all night, just worried sick about you. Why of all the – Pinocchio!" exclaimed Jiminy

_He had a right to be shocked. His nose just grew a few inches!_

"Pinocchio! Are you telling me the truth?" asked Jiminy

"Yes!" exclaimed Pinocchio

"Then tell me, what is this?" asked Jiminy

"It was a present." Said Pinocchio

"No fibbing, now! You know you're not supposed to tell lies. A lie only grows and grows, 'til you get caught! Plain as the nose on your face." Said Jiminy

"But if you want something, why wait? Why not just take it?" asked Pinocchio

"Oh, my! Who told you that? You need some advice from your conscience!" exclaimed Jiminy

"That's right! You're my conscience, Jiminy! I'll never tell lies as long as you're around." Said Pinocchio

_His nose then shrunk back to its original size._

"You need to be good so you can become a real boy. You promised Geppetto you would be, right?" asked Jiminy

"Oh! Do you know where Father is?" asked Pinocchio

"He's not with you?" asked Jiminy

"Jiminy, let's go find Father!" exclaimed Pinocchio

"Now, hold on! There are all sorts of dangers and temptations out there! I'll go find Geppetto, so you just wait here. These fellows here will be helping me." Said Jiminy

"We will?" Sora and Rita asked in unison

_Jiminy nodded his head._

"Well, shall we go, Sora?" asked Jiminy

"You could've asked us first…" Rita trailed off

_Reina elbowed her in the ribs as I kneeled down to Pinocchio's level._

"Don't worry, we'll find your father. I promise." I said

_We boarded the Gummi ship and set off into space. I don't know what we were supposed to look for, but I was suddenly thrown off guard by something, and it wasn't a meteor!_

"What is that?" asked Donald

"Wow, it's huge!" exclaimed Lumen

_The thing then flew past us, and it was a giant whale!_

"It's a giant whale!" exclaimed Goofy

"It's Monstro! He's a whale of a whale, and vicious besides!" exclaimed Jiminy

"Whoa! Sora, Lumen, get us out of here!" exclaimed a panicking Luz

"Too late! He's going to swallow us!" exclaimed Sora

_Some of us closed our eyes as we braced ourselves for a very rough landing._

_Luz's P.O.V._

_*Flashback – 10 years ago*_

_I was looking at Sora and Riku, who were racing against each other when a girl with long blond hair walked up to me. I would later learn that her name's Hikari._

_"Hello." Said Hikari_

_"Hi. Did you come from the outside world?" I asked_

_"Why would you say that?" asked Hikari_

_"Because nobody lives out here, and I know you're not from the main island." I said_

_"You're a smart girl. So, how about you? What are you doing here?" asked Hikari_

_"My mom took me out here on the boat. I want to be friends with those two over there. Their names are Riku and Sora." I said_

_"It must be hard, huh, to be stuck in one place." Said Hikari_

_"Yes. I heard once that there was a kid who left for good. So, how did you get here anyway?" I asked_

_"Is there some reason why you're interested in the outside world?" asked Hikari_

_"Yeah. I want to protect those who matter to me. You know, like my friends and family." I said_

_She smiled, and then looked at the sunset._

_"Outside this tiny world is a much larger one. I believe that one day, you might be able to see it for your own eyes." Said Hikari_

_*End Flashback*_

_I woke up to the sound of rumbling, and I was on something soft, and wet._

"…Well, let's see… If that whale swallowed us, then that way over there is the stomach, which means the mouth… is closed for business." Said Hikaru

_The rumbling continued, and a frustrated Donald yelled:_

"Knock it off!"

"Hey, Sora, Lumen, Luz, you okay?" asked Goofy

_Why was he holding his shield up like an umbrella?_

"What are you guys doing?" asked Lumen

"Where are we, anyway?" asked Sora

_I then noticed a treasure chest flying through the sky, and I jumped back to avoid getting hit on the head with it._

"Uh, ya know, I think that big ol' whale Monstro just swallowed us. And for today's weather: expect showers." Said Goofy

_Another chest hit his shield._

"Make that heavy showers." Joked Hikaru

"Hey!" exclaimed Reina

"Who's there?" asked Rita

"It's me." Said Pinocchio

"Oh, it's just Pinocchio. Pinocchio?!" Donald exclaimed as he did a double take

"Pinocchio? Pinocch, where are you going? Pinocch!" exclaimed Jiminy

"Come on, everyone! We gotta go after him, fast!" exclaimed Yukie

"But how are we going to catch up?" I asked

"As much as I'm going to regret saying this, I guess we're swimming." Hikaru said while pointing to the saliva in Monstro's mouth

"You're right, you are going to regret saying that!" exclaimed Rita

"Argue later. Chase now." Said Reina

_Hikari's P.O.V._

_I was glad when we reached the boat in the middle of Monstro's mouth._

"What have you got there, Pinocchio?" asked an elderly voice

"With this, we can get out of here, Father." Said Pinocchio

"Really? With this big block? You think so?" asked Geppetto

"It's true." Sora said as we lifted ourselves up into the boat

"So, how did you end up here Pinocchio?" asked Luz

"Oh, my. So the whale swallowed all of you, too? My goodness." Said Geppetto

"Yeah, looks like it." Said Yukie

"My name is Geppetto. I'm Pinocchio's father. When we got separated, I traveled all over, looking for him. Thank goodness we're together again. So, you seem to know Pinocchio quite well. I hope he was a good boy in my absence. Well, we've all had quite a journey. Right, Pinocchio? Pinocchio?" asked Geppetto

"Oh dear. He must've gone deeper into the whale." I said worried

"Come on, let's get Pinocchio before anything bad happens." Said Reina

_We entered into the first chamber of the stupid whale's belly, and this was wrong on so many levels! Thankfully, we found him at the entrance to the next chamber._

"What are you doing? Come on, let's go back." Said Lumen

"You know, Geppetto's awfully worried about you." Said Goofy

"Pinocchio, stop fooling around! This is no time for games!" exclaimed Sora

_We all began walking back to the mouth when we heard a voice saying:_

"But Sora, I thought you liked games."

_We turned around to face Riku._

"Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?" asked Riku

"Riku!" Luz and Sora exclaimed in unison

"Wh-what are you doing here?" asked Sora

"Just playing with Pinocchio." Said Riku

"You know what I mean! What about Kairi? Did you find her?" asked Sora

"Maybe. Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know." Said Riku

"Oh, come on!" exclaimed Lumen

_Riku took Pinocchio's hand and ran further inside Monstro. We all had the same look on our faces._

"Split up!" We all exclaimed in unison

_I went solo and focused my senses on finding Riku. Good thing I have a good nose when it comes to finding people. I soon found him near Monstro's belly; at least, I think I was close to the whale's stomach._

"There you are!" I exclaimed

"So, you're all alone." Said Riku

"Something wrong with that?" I asked

"Just makes my job a little easier." Said Riku

"Your job or Maleficent's? Yeah, I know about the old hag. Met her once." I said

"Really?" asked Riku

"Really, and I also know you need to be watched. The darkness in your heart could overtake you if you're not careful." I said

"I'm stronger than the darkness. There's no reason for me to be afraid." Said Riku

"Is that what you promised Terra when you became his successor ten years ago?" I asked

_A shocked Riku looked at me._

"How did you know that? I never told anyone!" exclaimed Riku

"I saw you on those islands when you were a little boy, and Terra is my friend. Riku, if you're not careful, you'll walk down the same path he did. Do you want that?" I asked

_Before he could reply, Luz ran into the room._

"Riku!" exclaimed Luz

_Sheesh, bad timing, and she tackled him again._

"Hey Luz." Said Riku

"You alright?" asked Luz

"Yeah." Said Riku

_I'm not gonna ruin this moment._

"I'm glad." Said Luz

_We were suddenly surrounded by Heartless, and Riku took this as his chance to slip away._

"Great, just leave us alone for five minutes, will ya?!" I exclaimed

_Thankfully with Luz, I just used the Keyblade while she fired off spells at the Heartless. When we were done, they dropped something. A book from Merlin's book to be precise. I cringed at how gooey it was. I'll worry about it later._

"Well, now that that's out of the way, I want answers Hikaru." Said Luz

"Do you think you're going to get them if you point your Keyblade at my back?" I asked

_It was true; her Keyblade was pointed at my back._

"You're not who you say you are Hikaru. Why are you being so secretive? What do you have to do with Lumen's past? I need answers." Said Luz

_I then turned to face her, and for a moment, I could've sworn that she recognized me._

"Are you…" started Luz

_More Heartless appeared, and one of them managed to knock Luz out._

"Luz! Now I'm mad. Word of advice, when I'm mad, run for your life. FAITH!" I exclaimed

_That got rid of the rest of the Heartless, and I took this opportunity to heal Luz. She woke up after I was done._

"Hey." I said

"Hey. Listen, I'm sorry about having doubts." Said Luz

"Actually, you were on the ball. I have something to do with Lumen's past." I said

"You do?! But then, what makes you think I can trust you?!" exclaimed Luz

"Outside this tiny world is a much larger one. I believe that one day; you might be able to see it for your own eyes." I said

"It can't be… it's… it's really you. Hikari." Said Luz

"It's been ten years Luz." I said

"You haven't aged a day since I met you! But how?" asked Luz

"I'll start from the beginning. I come from a world named Radiant Garden, nicknamed the City of Light. It was a beautiful place. There were flowers everywhere. Everyone smiled, and the ruler of Radiant Garden, Ansem the Wise would watch over the citizens from his castle. I loved being there, until the day everything changed. When I was eight years old, I was whisked away from my home to train with a man named Xehanort. I tried to leave, hundreds of times, but I couldn't." I said

"Why?" asked Luz

_I lifted the back of my shirt to reveal my scar._

"He gave me this scar. It was his way of saying 'you're cursed to stay with me until the day you become a Keyblade Master.' It took me years to finally become one, and that was the year you met me." I said

"So, what's up with the Hikaru routine?" asked Luz

"Don't want certain people knowing I'm back, though the cat's already out of the bag." I said

"I see. You said you know Lumen, who he was." Said Luz

"Not very well, truth be told. He took me in after I got amnesia, and was forced to serve Xehanort. I traveled the worlds just to try and save him, and when I did, I had to seal his memories of me. I didn't want him to remember the things he did." I said

"But… Lumen has amnesia, in a sense. He knows his name, and he knows the world he came from, just not a lot of his memories are intact." Said Luz

"But that couldn't have been me. I only locked away certain memories." I said

"I see. Hey, I'm sorry about how I was acting earlier. I'll keep your secret." Said Luz

"No prob. Luz, I know this is a bit sudden, but I think it's high time you earned yourself a Mark of Mastery exam." I said

"A Mark of Mastery exam? What's that?" asked Luz

_I was about to say more when Pinocchio ran by._

"Talk later?" I asked

"Talk later." Agreed Luz

_We ran after him with Sora and the others following suit. Pinocchio then ran past Riku._

"Riku!" exclaimed Sora

"What's the matter with you? What are you thinking?" asked Lumen

"Don't you realize what you're doing?!" exclaimed Sora

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora. You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days. Do you even want to save Kairi?" asked Riku

"I do." Said Sora

_We all heard a scream from the other room. Oh no, that's where Pinocchio went! Well, it's safe to say we've reached the bowels of the whale, but there was this huge Heartless smack-dab in the middle! If that wasn't reason to worry, Pinocchio was inside it, like he was in a cage!_

"You up for this?" asked Riku

"No problem. Let's do it!" Sora exclaimed as he got into a fighting stance

"Riku, after this is over, there's something I have to tell you." Said Luz

"I can wait." Said Riku

_Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Rita, and Yukie charged in while I stayed at the sidelines casting magic at the Heartless. When I did get up close and personal, I had to watch out for its tentacle-like things, as it liked swinging them around and using them like a hammer. When it was weak enough, I struck the bars at the cage, freeing Pinocchio, unfortunately, a hole opened up, which Pinocchio fell through, and Riku chased after him. We fell through, and ended back in the mouth._

"Pinocchio! Pinocchio! Please! Give me back my son!" exclaimed Geppetto

_I looked up, and was horrified that Riku was holding him like a rag doll!_

"Sorry, old man. I have some unfinished business with this puppet." Said Riku

"He's no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy!" exclaimed Geppetto

"He is unusual. Not many puppets have hearts. I'm not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs." Said Riku

"Wait a minute. Are you talking about Kairi?!" exclaimed Sora

"What do you care about her?" asked Riku

_He then walked off with Pinocchio in tow. Guess we're following him, into the stomach too._

"Hey, let Pinocchio go, Riku!" exclaimed Rita

"A puppet that's lost its heart to the Heartless. Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi. How about it, Sora? Let's join forces to save her. We can do it, together." Said Riku

_Sora then got into a fighting stance._

"What? You'd rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?" asked Riku

"Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience." Lumen said as he got into a fighting stance

"Conscience?" asked Riku

"You might not hear it, but right now it's loud and clear. And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!" exclaimed Sora

"Then you leave me no choice." Said Riku

_Looks like Pinocchio is going to be fine, and that stupid Heartless is back!_

"Jiminy, Pinocchio, get out of here." Said Reina

_They quickly ran out of the room, and this Heartless learned a few new tricks last time we were here, for example, spitting out acid. Luz quickly summoned Simba as Lumen summoned Genie. His Keyblade glowed red as he tossed it into the air and three sparks flew off the end before Genie appeared. Lumen and Genie high-fived before going into battle. Simba and Genie then made the finishing move on the Heartless as a gigantic heart appeared, but unfortunately, our battle gave Monstro a bit of indigestion._

"Run!" Rita, Reina, Yukie, and Donald exclaimed in unison

"Riku! Riku, where are you?!" exclaimed Luz

_Time seemed to slow down for a minute before going back to normal. They must've learned Stop._

"No time to waste, we gotta run!" I exclaimed

_**Done and done! Whew, this one took me a while, but I'm finally done! Please review, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Merry Christmas!**_


	10. Atlantica

Chapter 9: Atlantica

_**Hey everyone! It's me, sakuraphoenix, and I'm back with a new chapter! I know that it's been a while, but hey, I've been busy! Good thing I have a four-day weekend. Anyway, disclaimer time.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also do not own Luz. She belongs to Keybladeauraofpie. Rita, Reina, and Yukie don't belong to me either. They belong to D.J. Scales.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_After the trip inside Monstro, he sneezed us out of there! It took a team of me, Donald, Luz, and Rita to regain the ship's controls. I'm never driving this thing again._

"I sure hope Pinocchio and Geppetto are okay." said Goofy

"Yeah, hopefully they landed safely somewhere." said Donald

"Riku..." Luz said as she stared outside into space

"Hey, can I talk to you?" I asked

"Sure." said Luz

_We found a place a little more private to talk._

"I'm sure you're feeling upset about Riku." I said

"Yeah. I am. It's almost as if the Riku I knew is gone and has been replaced by someone who looks like him." said Luz

"We'll get him back, and if we're lucky, we can save him. I can't allow him to walk down the same path my friend did." I said

"That's why you were worried about him." said Luz

"Yeah. Remember what I said about that Mark of Mastery exam?" I asked

"Yeah?" asked Luz

"A Mark of Mastery exam is a special exam Keyblade wielders take in order to prove their worth with the Keyblade. I've seen you with magic and the Keyblade. I think you're ready. Out of all the Keyblade wielders I've met, I've never seen anyone wield it the way you or Sora do." I said

"So, why not give Sora an exam too?" asked Luz

_I gave her a look, and she got the message._

"Oh yeah. Good point." said Luz

_Donald informed us that we arrived back in Traverse Town. Good idea. We needed to stock up on supplies and stop by Merlin's home. We walked up to the Fairy Godmother and showed her the gem we found inside monster._

"Oh, another summon gem? Let's help this little one. Here we go! Bibbidy bobbity boo!" exclaimed the fairy godmother

_A light shone from the gem, and circled around me, Lumen, and Sora. After a while, the gem picked Lumen._

"If you find any more of those stones, bring them to me." said the fairy godmother

_We then left for the Gummi ship, and came across a world that seemed to resemble an aquarium._

"Okay, guys. Prepare for landing." said Donald

"Land where?" asked Sora

"In the sea?" asked Reina

"We'll drown!" Luz and I exclaimed in unison

"Not with my magic, we won't. Just leave it to me." said Donald

"I've got a bad feeling about this." I muttered

_He cast a spell, and next thing we knew, we were underwater! Donald had the lower body of an octopus. Goofy had the body of a turtle, while Rita, Reina, Yukie, Luz, Sora, Lumen, and I... were merfolk. Sora had the tail of a dolphin while Lumen had a blue mermaid tail, but well, was more like a merman tail. Luz's tail was maroon with grey fins and she wore a black shell bra. She also had her hair long. Rita was wearing a red form-fitting shell bra and had a yellow mermaid tail. Reina on the other hand had a purple mermaid tail and wore a blue form-fitting shell bra. Yukie had a green mermaid tail with a white form-fitting shell bra and her hair was long. I finally took a good look at myself. I had a pink mermaid tail with a grey shell bra, and my hair was in two ridiculous pigtails! They weren't the kind I wore; they were the little kid kind, only at the top of my head! If that wasn't enough, I also wore earrings with a heart dangling from my ears. From the distance, I saw a mermaid with a green tail and a purple shell bra swim this way. Following her was a crab and a yellow fish._

"Come on, Sebastian!" exclaimed the mermaid

"Ariel, wait! Slow down! Don't leave me behind!" exclaimed the crab named Sebastian

_He swam as hard as he could and eventually was face-to-face with an upside-down and annoyed Donald. He screamed and swam behind the mermaid Ariel_

"Relax, Sebastian. They don't look like one of them. Right, Flounder?" asked Ariel

"I don't know. There's something weird about them." the yellow fish named Flounder said

_Sora began laughing nervously._

"What do you mean?" asked Rita

_Ariel then swam up to us._

"They do seem... a little different. Where are you from?" asked Ariel

"We're from pretty far away, truth be told, and we're not used to these waters." said Reina

_We all nodded in agreement. Ariel seemed to believe it._

"Oh, I see. In that case... Sebastian can show you how we swim around here." Ariel said as Sebastian and Donald were having a staring contest

"Ariel, King Triton will not like this!" exclaimed Sebastian

"Oh, don't worry." said Ariel

"Easy for you to say... Okay, it's time you learn how to swim properly. Practice swimming with Flounder. Try to tag him. Alright. Begin." said Sebastian

_We began swimming to try and tag him, but it was easy after a while._

"Good job. Now let's move on to self-defense." said Sebastian

"Sebastian!" exclaimed Ariel

_She pointed to a swarm of jellyfish Heartless that were coming this way!_

"Class is over. Good luck!" exclaimed Sebastian

_Sebastian and Flounder hid in a clam while Ariel hid in the opening of a wall. Sheesh, give us a break, will ya Heartless? Thankfully, since now we had the stop spell on our side, things were easier to beat these guys. After they were gone, Ariel came out of her hiding place while Rita tapped her Keyblade on the clam._

"Knock knock." Rita said as she tapped her Keyblade on the clam

_It opened up as Flounder and Sebastian swam over to their friend._

"Those creatures chased us here." said Ariel

"Oh, no! Those monsters might be heading for the palace, too!" A panicked Sebastian exclaimed

"We'd better head back right away!" exclaimed Ariel

"But, wh-what if we run into more on our way back?" asked Flounder

_She then looked at us._

"I'm sorry, but we need your help. Please come to the palace with us." said Ariel

_Sora was about to protest, but Lumen gave him a look that clearly said 'Don't say a word.' He whispered something into his ear, and he had a face that seemed to understand the situation._

"We'll be happy to help. Lead the way." said Lumen

"The trident markers on the walls point the way there. We won't get lost as long as we follow them." said Ariel

"That was smart. We definitely won't get lost then." I said

"Okay, let's get going." said Ariel

_We followed the markers, and in no time at all, we reached the palace. It was beautiful. I guess being underwater really changed the way you looked at things. Unfortunately, we were followed by the Heartless, and there were too many of them for us to fight off._

"That was too close." said a male voice

_Ariel excitedly swam over to the elderly merman on the throne._

"As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace." said the merman

_He may be no Keyblade wielder, but that is one man I do not want to make mad._

"Daddy!" exclaimed Ariel

"Oh, Ariel!" exclaimed the merman

_She looked worried hearing his tone._

"When will you listen? It's dangerous out there!" exclaimed the man

_She just looked annoyed._

"Strange creatures lurk outside." the merman said before staring at us with a hard look

_Sora and Lumen glared at him while Sebastian cleared his throat._

"Behold. You swim before the ruler of the seas: His Majesty, King Triton." said Sebastian

_Rita, Reina, Yukie, Lumen, Luz, and I immediately bowed. I was taught to respect my elders, thankfully not from my parents._

"And who are they?" asked Triton

"They helped us fight off those creatures." said Ariel

"They don't look familiar." said Triton

"Um, well, we'll from an ocean very far away, your majesty." said Luz

"Yep. We came to find the Keyh-" Goofy started before I clamped his mouth shut

_Too late, he got an idea, and he was alarmed._

"The what?" asked Triton

"What's that?" asked Ariel

"Well..." started Yukie

"There's no such thing. Certainly not here." said Triton

"But, Daddy..." started Ariel

_He gave her a very hard look. At least I can tell he cares about her, unlike my folks._

"Ariel, not another word! You are not to leave the palace. Is that clear?

_She glared at him before swimming off. We quickly swam after her, since we didn't know what exactly was going on. We finally found her, and she clearly was upset about what her dad said._

"You okay?" asked Luz

"Yes. Come to my grotto. I want to show you something." Said Ariel

"But where is it?" I asked

_She pointed to a boulder that seemed to be blocking an entrance to a cave._

"There it is. See?" asked Ariel

_She moved the boulder aside and we entered the grotto. There were so many things! How did she collect all of them?_

"Look at all the wonderful things Flounder and I've collected. I think it's all from the outside world. Someday, I'm going to see what's out there. I want to see other worlds. Does that sound strange?" asked Ariel

"No. Not at all." Said Yukie

"Yeah, we used to feel the same way." Said Sora

"Used to?" wondered Ariel

"I mean… we still do." Said Luz

"Hey, why don't we try looking for that thing you were talking about?" asked Ariel

"But your father said…" started Reina

"Oh, he treats me like a little girl. He never wants to let me do anything. He just… he just doesn't understand." Said Ariel

_She swam out of her grotto and talked to a group of dolphins. They appeared that they were willing to give us a ride. Ariel, Sora, Donald, and Goofy got onto one while Lumen, Luz, Rita, and I got onto another while Yukie and Reina were on the last one. They took us to some kind of abandoned, yet sunken, ship. We saw a treasure chest, and just before we opened it, a shark burst in! I screamed and hid behind Lumen while Luz hid behind Goofy._

"Aw man, I forgot sharks live in the ocean." Said Luz

"Hm. Its shape reminds me of something…" Sora trailed off

_He picked it up and we went outside of the ship, where Jaws was waiting for us. Before it could attack any of us, Rita and I used the stop spell and attacked it like mad women. When the spell wore off, the shark stared at us, then panicked, then ran away._

"That's right 'fraidy cat! Don't you dare come back!" exclaimed Rita

_Everyone looked at us with scared looks._

"What?" I wondered

_They just shook their heads and the swim back to Ariel's grotto was kinda quiet. We got back and the crystal trident fit the hole that was here. Nothing seemed to be happening, so far._

"Ariel, you've disobeyed me again! I told you not to leave the palace!" exclaimed Triton

_He spotted the crystal, and took out his trident._

"Daddy, no!" exclaimed Ariel

_Too late. He zapped it into oblivion._

"How could you?" Ariel asked, obviously upset

_She swam out of her grotto._

"Young men and women, you're not from another ocean. You're from another world. Aren't you?" asked Triton

_We all began to panic. How did he know?!_

"Then you must be key bearers." Said Triton

"How did you know, your majesty?" I asked

"You may fool Ariel, but you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail. As key bearers, you must already know one must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds." Said Triton

"Of course we know that, but…" I started

"You have violated this principle. The key bearer shatters peace and brings ruin." Said Triton

_Why did he have to say that? It's bad enough that I know people like that, but bringing up my past like that?_

"Look, one, how do you know about the Keyblade. Two, we already know a lot more than you ever would. Mine and my sister's father happens to be the uncrowned king of our world, Arkus!" exclaimed Rita

_Triton's face turned into one of shock at the same time mine did._

"Arkus? I thought that world was a legend. It sounded too good to be true." I said

"It's real. Yukie, Reina, and I are living proof. Our world is so advanced that your trident would be a toy compared to what we know and discovered. Don't tell us how to do our job, got it?" asked Rita

"I thank you for saving my daughter. But there is no room in my ocean for you or your keys." Said Triton

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Your Majesty. We gonna have a little chat while we send you back to your so-called throne." Rita said as she pushed him out of Ariel's grotto

"So, what did you hear about their world?" asked Sora

"That an artifact named the Core of Light was discovered there, and another artifact named the Cornerstone of Light was created from its power. The people of that world learned to use technology and magic as a balance in their lives. Such a world couldn't exist outside of legend. I always believe that Arkus was a legend, until now." I sad

"But still, there's no way the Keyblade would bring ruin or shatter peace. Right Hikaru?" asked Lumen

_I just swam away with tears threatening to form. I ignored their calls after me. I just needed to be alone. I don't know how long I was sitting, looking over the palace of this world when I felt someone tap my shoulder._

"You alright?" asked Luz

"No." I said

"I'd bet. What Triton said was really over the line." Said Luz

"Actually, it kinda wasn't." I said

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Luz

"I'd rather not. It involves my past, one I wish I never lived." I said

"Hey, people have things they don't like in their lives, but good things lead to bad things, which lead to more good things." Said Luz

"I guess you're right. Maybe I should start from the beginning. As you know, you met me ten years ago, but I haven't aged since then. That's because I was trapped in the Realm of Darkness." I said

"What's that?" asked Luz

"A realm parallel to this one. Because of that, time flows differently here than there. A few days there could be a few years here. Before that, I was a student of a Keyblade Master named Xehanort. I hated every day of training with him." I said

"Why?" asked Luz

"He was a Keyblade Master of Darkness, an epitome of what Triton said." I said

"So the Keyblade can bring ruin." Said Luz

"Only if in the wrong hands." I said

"That's why you were so upset." Said Luz

"Yeah. If I could change the past, I would. But I can't, because… if I didn't train with Xehanort, I don't think I would've made friends with the people I know today. You're right Luz. Good things lead to bad things, which lead to more good things." I said

"Aw, isn't this touching?" asked a male voice

_Luz and I turned to see Ankoku, Sarah, and Kyo. Even their clothes were altered in this world. Ankoku had a blue mermaid tail with a purple shell bra while both Sarah and Kyo had black mermaid tails, and their black coats were altered to fit with the world._

"Sarah, Kyo, and Ankoku." I said

"I'm flattered that you remember us." Said Sarah

"Why don't you just shut up?" Said Luz

_Rita, Reina, and Yukie then showed up, Keyblades in hand._

"Rita. Reina. Yukie." I said

"We'll handle the big mouths. Why don't you two handle her?" Rita asked while pointing to Ankoku

"Okay." I said

"Got it." Said Luz

_We summoned our Keyblades the same time she did. As all three of us clashed, I could sense she was almost as Keyblade Master level._

"Ankoku, why are you fighting with them?" I asked

"Does it matter?" asked Ankoku

"It matters to us." Said Luz

"Because you guys are trying to bring ruin to all the worlds!" exclaimed Ankoku

"They're the ones who are trying to bring ruin you nimrod! You can't trust them!" I exclaimed

"As if! That's one reason why I'm fighting. There's someone I want to see again, and I won't be able to with you in the way!" exclaimed Ankoku

"Who?" asked Luz

"Her name is Master Hikari. I met her ten years ago. I have something to tell her." Said Ankoku

"Then I'm sorry. Salvation!" I exclaimed

_The impact of the spell sent them flying backwards, and knocked out Sarah and Kyo cold. Ankoku had to open a Keyblade portal in order to get out of there._

"Hey, we heard your conversation with Luz, and… we're sorry." Said Reina

"Don't be. Your life wasn't ruined by darkness like mine was." I said

_I then noticed Ariel with a woman with an octopus-like body following her into the palace. This didn't look good. We followed them into the palace, where I saw octopus-breath hold Triton's trident._

"Why, we have company. I'm afraid you're a little late sweethearts." Said the octopus lady

_She disappeared in a cloud of ink just as Sora, Lumen, Donald, and Goofy arrived._

"Daddy!" exclaimed Ariel

"The trident… we must get it back." Triton said weakly

"Come on, let's go!" exclaimed Sora

_We were about to swim out when Ariel stopped us._

"Wait, I'm going with you! My father is hurt and it's all my fault. I have to stop Ursula!" exclaimed Ariel

_We all nodded, giving her proof that she could come with us._

"That's right. I'm right behind you, Ariel." Said Sebastian

"Ursula draws power from her cauldron. To defeat Ursula, you must strike her cauldron with magic." Said Triton

"Sounds like my territory." I said

_We headed back to the sunken ship area, but after what Rita and I did to the shark, it wasn't coming back anytime soon. We found some kind of strange rock, but when we tried to move it, it wouldn't budge!_

"Need some help? I'll show you how it's done." Said Sebastian

_He pushed a button, allowing the rock to move. We quickly moved inside to find Ursula's lair._

"Come out! You can't run!" exclaimed Donald

"Your time has come!" exclaimed Sebastian

_Oh, she came out of her nook alright, and scared the living daylights out of Sebastian and Donald._

"You know something you old hag, you really call yourself a sea witch? You're so fat it's a miracle that you were able to get out of that tiny hole." Rita said while showing off in her mermaid body

"I'll say. Any bigger, she would've been stuck." Reina said while following Rita's lead

"No wonder merfolk despise girls like you and prefer girls like us." Yukie finished following her sister's lead, "You're fat and ugly while we're sweet and pretty."

_That was enough to make her really mad. We all fired spells at the cauldron, but since it would give hints as to which spell to cast when, it was easy. When Ursula was stunned, we all went berserk on her! It wasn't long until her cauldron was destroyed and her eel henchmen were destroyed._

"You'll pay for this!" exclaimed Ursula

_She immediately swam out of her grotto._

"Let's go. We must get the trident back." Said Ariel

_I wondered where she went until I had a bit of a vision. She was in an open area of sea, not that far from here._

"I know where she is. She's in an open area of the ocean not that far from here." I said

_They followed me to where we found Ursula._

"You pathetic fools! I rule the seas now!" exclaimed Ursula

_There was a sudden shaking in the area._

"The sea and all its spoils bow to my power!" exclaimed Ursula

_Who ordered the giant octopus?_

"Hey, lady, did you load up on some foods that you weren't supposed to eat?" asked Rita

"She's right. You look like a giant whale." Said Yukie

"You belong in a pig pen." Reina finished.

_A very mad, gigantic Ursula went on the attack. Now that she was big, and getting up in our faces, this was going to be hard. That's when I realized something. She spent all her time looking at us, but never turned her back. That's her weak spot! I signaled to Luz, and I decided to play the distraction. I'm gonna regret this._

"What's the matter squid face? Cat got your tongue?" I asked

"I'll show you some respect!" exclaimed Ursula

"Firaga!" I exclaimed

_The moment the fireball formed in my hand, a big explosion soon occurred, blinding Ursula, giving Luz the opportunity to finish her off. She disappeared in an inky black mess as the trident appeared, safe and sound. A piece of paper appeared from the mess. It's a page from Ansem's report! We returned the trident to its proper place inside the palace._

"Daddy, I'm so sorry." Said Ariel

"Please don't be angry with her." I said

_Instead he shook his head._

"It's my fault. You followed Ursula because… I wouldn't let you follow your heart. And when you found that crystal, I lost my temper and destroyed it." Said Triton

"So, why did you destroy it?" asked Luz

"That crystal held the power to reveal the Keyhole. The Keyhole is dangerous. I had to keep you away from it at all costs." Said Triton

"Daddy…" Ariel trailed off

"Key bearers, I have one more request: Seal the Keyhole." Said Triton

"But how are we going to do that? You destroyed the crystal. Great job genius." Said Rita

"Rita." Said Reina

"What?" asked Rita

"My trident also holds the power to reveal the Keyhole. Will you do it?" asked Triton

"Of course. That's what we had in mind from the start." Said Sora

"Where is the Keyhole, Daddy?" asked Ariel

"You should know better than anyone. It's in your grotto." Said Triton

"Really… Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikaru, Rita, Reina, Yukie, let's go." Said Goofy

_Some of my hair began to stand up on end again. I guess their thunder spells have been upgraded._

"Princesses of Arkus, be careful on your journey." Said Triton

"Yeah, yeah, whatever old man." Rita said before she swam off

"You're sure she's your sister?" I asked Reina

"Sometimes I don't even know." Replied Reina

_We quickly swam back to Ariel's grotto, and using the trident, it resonated with the trident symbol, revealing the Keyhole. Yukie had this one under control, and sealed the Keyhole to this world._

"Tell me, Sora, Lumen, Luz, Hikaru, Rita, Reina, and Yukie. Your worlds, what are they like?" asked Ariel

"Oh, about that… sorry for lying to you." Said Lumen

"It's okay. Besides, if you guys can travel to other worlds, maybe I can, too. So many places I want to see. I know I'll get there someday. I'll find a way somehow. I'm sure of it." Said Ariel

"Well, if you find it, do me a favor and leave me out of it." Said Sebastian

_Luz and I laughed, and we noticed something. It was page from Merlin's book! Ariel probably wouldn't like us taking it, but Merlin would probably like to have it back. Unfortunately, we didn't have pockets, and we couldn't hide it in our shell bras, even with it folded up. Rita then swam up to us, and saw our predicament, and she quickly stuffed it in her cleavage. We swam up to Ariel to say our good-byes as we continued our adventures._

_**Done and done! This one took me a while, but I finally finished! Please review, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Kan dao ni!**_


	11. Halloween Town

Chapter 10: Halloween Town

_Hey everyone! It's me, sakuraphoenix, and I'm back with a brand new chapter folks! I know, it's been a while, but I've been busy as heck. Anyway, disclaimer time!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I also do not own Luz. She belongs to my good friend Keybladeauraofpie. Rita, Reina, and Yukie also don't belong to me. They belong to D.J. Scales._

_Enjoy!_

_It was a miracle that we managed to make it alright through that world! My muscles were so sore; I had to lie down on the bed in the room I was given in the ship! Just then, I heard a knock on my door._

"I'm in here. Come in." I said

_The door then opened to reveal Luz._

"Oh. Hey Luz." I said

"You okay?" asked Luz

"I wish. I'm so sore, it's miracle that I was able to move to my room!" I exclaimed

"I know. I mean, I swam on the islands, but that was ridiculous. Anyway, what did you want?" I asked

"Two things actually. When I saw your swim up to Ursula in Atlantica, you tried casting Firaga, which I'm assuming is an upgrade of Fira, but it blew up in your face. Why?" asked Luz

"I… I was born with a handicap." I said

"Handicap?" asked Luz

"I can cast spells like Fire and Blizzard, but if I go to the next level, the spell will blow up in my face. That's why I had to make my own spells, to counter that handicap." I said

"Wow." Said Luz

"Yeah. Believe me, it took a lot of work, but at least my spells don't blow up in my face." I said before I laughed

"I bet. Anyway… Ankoku… she's looking for you. When did you meet her?" asked Luz

"Same as you, ten years ago. She was only five then." I said

"Like me." Said Luz

"Yeah. She's also… my successor." I said

"Successor?" asked Luz

"When a person who is a Keyblade Master, or at least at Keyblade Master level, they can choose someone to inherit their powers of the Keyblade. First, you summon your Keyblade, and you show the person, preferably a child, your Keyblade, and then you say 'In your hand, take this key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, it's wielder you shall one day be. One day, you will find me friend. No ocean will contain you then. No more obstacles above or below, so long as you cherish the ones you love.' Then, the person touches the handle of the Keyblade, and if nothing happens, then the ceremony was a success. I said something a little different all those years ago, but I kept the idea the same." I said

"Wow. Anyway, it's about those Sarah and Kyo characters. When we fought against them the first time, they acted as if they knew you." Said Luz

"Unfortunately, it's more complicated than that. They're… my mom and dad." I said

"Then that means that…" started Luz

"Yeah. Ankoku's my sister. She doesn't even know she has one truth be told." I said

"How come?" asked Luz

"When I first met her, Sarah and Kyo acted as if they never met me before, all because I chose the path I wanted to embark on instead of the path of darkness, like they did." I said

"Wow. I don't even want to know why." Said Luz

"Yeah. My grandfather was the one who raised me. He was the mom and dad I always wanted, but I never had." I said

_I then pulled out my incomplete wayfinder._

"When I was trapped in the realm of darkness, all I had was this to keep hoping that… that one day… I'd see my grandfather again. But when I escaped, the shell shattered. I'm worried that he's… he's…" I started before I felt tears forming in my eyes

"That he's dead?" asked Luz

_I sadly nodded my head, and was surprised when Luz wrapped her arms around me._

"Hey, it's okay. Your grandfather may have raised you, but I don't think he'd like to see you this upset, so cheer up a little. You're a Keyblade Master after all." Said Luz

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right Luz. Thanks for that." I said while smiling

"You're welcome." Said Luz

"Luz, Hikaru, we're ready to land on another world. You two coming?" Donald asked over the intercom

"Yeah, we'll be right there!" exclaimed Luz

"Let's hope we don't turn into bears or something in this world." I said

"That would suck." Said Luz

_When we exited the Gummi ship, the world we were in not only was creepy looking, but we were in new outfits too! Rita looked like she was a dark knight of some sorts, but it suited her well. Yukie was in a cat costume, and it really showed off her curves, even though she looked embarrassed to be in it. Reina on the other hand looked like she was a sorceress, yet the costume wasn't as creepy as the other costumes we were in. Sora looked like he was a vampire, with a pumpkin mask on his head. Lumen looked like a Black Mage, except the hat was a little on the small side. Luz was really pulling off the witch costume, which really suited her. As for Donald, looking like a mummy didn't really make him very happy. Now Goofy looked like Frankenstein's monster, just not as serious. As for me, I was in a fairy outfit, but it had a gothic twist to it. At least my hair was long again. I missed having it like that._

"This sure is a spooky place. I'll bet the people here are scary-lookin' too." Said Goofy

"Don't worry. We look spooky, too. If they scare us, we'll scare them right back!" exclaimed Donald

"You think so?" asked Goofy

_We then headed into the town's square, and saw a bunch of Heartless! We pulled out our weapons, but… they weren't attacking. That's really weird._

"And now, allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares – Jack Skellington!" exclaimed a very weird looking man

_The Heartless then moved aside to reveal a man that looked like… a skeleton, wearing what appeared to be a pinstripe suit._

"Bravo, Jack! Bravo! Those ghosts will be a big hit at this year's Halloween!" exclaimed the man

"Thank you, thank you! But their movement still needs work. It's not scary enough. I want to strike bone-chilling terror. I'm going to consult the doctor." Jack said as he began to walk away

"Then I'll go attend to the decorations." Said the man

_We could learn something about the Heartless and their stranger-than-usual behavior if we try and find this 'doctor'. We secretly followed Jack to the point where we were in some strange lab._

"I don't understand. Maybe the guidance system was damaged in the explosion." Said Jack

"Nonsense. My devices are always perfect!" exclaimed the doctor

"Oh, I've got it! Why, of course! The Heartless need a heart! Doctor, do you think we can add a heart to that device?" asked Jack

"Certainly. A heart's not all that complicated. Let's get to work." Said the doctor

"To make a heart, first take a container with a lock…" started Jack

"We need the key to this thing first!" exclaimed the doctor

_Sounds like find the key duty. Oh wait, we have a universal key. Not gonna use it though, except Sora had the opposite idea. He just told us that he was gonna unlock it! That idiot!_

"You're really gonna unlock it for them?" asked Donald

"Why not? If they succeed, we won't have to fight the Heartless, right? Besides, I wanna see the Heartless dance too. Don't you?" asked Sora

"Not really." Said Donald

_I had a bad feeling about this._

"My! That was amazing! Uh, and you are…" started Jack

"Sora." Said Sora

"Well done, Sora! I'd like you to be a part of this year's Halloween." Said Jack

"Yeah, uh, quick question. What's this Heartless doing here?" asked Luz

"Oh, the Heartless came to town just recently. What's frustrating is that I can't get them to dance with me. So the doctor and I are trying to improve the guidance system. He's quite a genius! Okay, Doctor, let's continue. The ingredients for a heart: Pulse. Emotion. Terror. Fear. Hope and Despair. Mix them all together, and we have a heart!" exclaimed Jack

_The machine then started up, but the Heartless still wasn't doing anything._

"It failed! Maybe we're missing some ingredients. Let's try adding memory." Said the doctor

_The guy then opened up his head, revealing his brain! Ew!_

"Sally! Sally! Good-for-nothing girl! Don't know why I bothered creating her! Sally's got the memory we need. See if you can track her down." Said the doctor

"No problem. Sora, would you like to come along?" asked Jack

"Sure!" exclaimed Sora

"So, what are we? Chopped liver?" I asked

"Someone's gotta keep him out of trouble." Said Lumen

_We were about to follow him when I noticed a page from Merlin's book. We're coming back later, so we can get it then. We just stepped out of the lab when the guy from earlier appeared, and he looked like he was in a frenzy._

"Jack! Jack! We have a major crisis! The Heartless are completely out of control! We can't stop them!" exclaimed the man

"Hmm… maybe our experiment triggered something. Everything will be fine, Mayor. You have nothing to worry about." Said Jack

"Nothing to worry about my ass." Said Rita

"Rita!" exclaimed Reina

"What?" asked Rita

_The Heartless in the square were behaving like their usual selves now. We had to fight them in order to pass them. We then found ourselves in a graveyard._

"Let's check out this place too, once the Heartless here are out of our way." I said

"Good call." Said Reina

_Just as we finished them off, a ghost that looked like a dog with a red glowing nose appeared! Jack seemed to recognize the dog._

"Zero! Have you seen Sally anywhere?" asked Jack

_His ears stuck up in the air, and he flew behind a grave marker, scaring a girl with red hair. I assume that she's Sally._

"Is something wrong, Jack?" asked Sally

"No, everything's going great. We're going to have the best Halloween ever. All we need now is your memory." Said Jack

"Memory? You mean this?" Sally asked as she held some Forget-Me-Not flowers

_Jack then took the flowers from her._

"Jack, I have a bad feeling about this. Why don't you try something else? There's still time." Said Sally

"Nothing could beat what I've got planned! Once we give the Heartless a heart, they'll dance; they'll dance just as I envision it. Trust me. You're going to love it!" exclaimed Jack

_Somehow, I'm also getting a bad feeling about this. We headed back to the doctor's lab, but I was getting the feeling that we were either being eavesdropped on, or someone was watching us on the way back to the lab._

"Yes. This is it. Now, just one more ingredient. We need 'surprise' to complete the heart. The mayor should know where it is." Said the doctor

_I guess that page is still going to have to wait. We trailed back to the graveyard and found the mayor there. We explained what was going on, and he gave us some kind of box with a crank. Donald tried turning, and it played music before the top opened up, and scared him. It's a jack-in-the-box! We quickly made it back to the lab with it for the doctor._

"Yes. This is it." Said the doctor

_He then put the last ingredient with the others._

"There you go. This time it's sure to work." Said the doctor

_He was about to put it with the Heartless when some kids came along and stole it! If this was mom and dad were like when they were kids, I'm going give them a punishment they'll never forget._

"The nerve of those little hooligans, stealing my work!" the doctor exclaimed as Luz and I helped him up

_We then hurried to catch up to them, but when we got to town square, we lost them._

"We lost them!" exclaimed Sora

_Jack then waved over Zero._

"Zero, after them, quick!" exclaimed Jack

_We followed the dog to some kind of abandoned house._

"I knew Oogie Boogie was behind this!" exclaimed Jack

"Having some trouble?" A female voice behind us asked

_We all turned around, and we saw Ankoku! What was she doing here?! More importantly, she looked like a kitsune in human form in that costume. Even her hair clip became a piece of bone!_

"You!" exclaimed Rita

"Calm down, I only came to talk. See? I'm by myself." Said Ankoku

"Why are you here?" asked Reina

"I… I thought over what your friend said. Although it's true that I thought that you were trying to bring ruin, as I watched you… I began to think otherwise." Said Ankoku

"Ankoku…" I started

"I'm still looking for her, the girl I met when I was a kid, but I don't think I can find her like this. Will you guys… let me help you out for now?" asked Ankoku

"Of course." I said

"Hikaru!" everyone exclaimed in unison

"If she wanted to attack us, she would've done so by now." I said

"Good point." Said Lumen

_We then entered the place and saw the kids from earlier._

"Hey kids, remember us? We're going to show you how thieves get punished." I said while cracking my knuckles in a menacing manner

"We're gonna give you boys and girl a punishment you'll never forget." Rita said while following my lead

_We basically went berserk on them before we finished giving them a sound, never-to-be-forgotten punishment._

"We were just following orders! Oogie Boogie told us to steal the heart. It's all Barrel's fault! It was his idea to tell Oogie Boogie about the heart." Said the girl

"Yeah, that's right." Said the boy in the devil costume

"B-But you guys said…" started Barrel

"You should be ashamed!" exclaimed the girl

"You know WHO should be ashamed around here?!" I exclaimed

_All three of them cowered in fear._

"You three! Instead of pinning the blame on others, you should be thinking about your own actions! Blaming others won't get you far, and if you ever forget that, then guess who will give all three of you a sound spanking the next time we catch you doing mischief?" I said with a murderous look on my face

_The kids screamed before they ran away, inadvertently helping us revealing where Oogie was. We found the room he was in, and I was getting a bad feeling._

"Oogie Boogie, give me back the heart!" exclaimed Jack

"You want it? Well, then come on over and get it!" said Oogie Boogie

_He then swallowed it whole! Gross!_

"Now, let's see if I can get their attention. Oh, Heartless!" exclaimed Oogie Boogie

_Only a couple showed up._

"This is it? Nobody disrespects me! Nobody!" exclaimed Oogie Boogie

_The roulette that was in the center of the room started up and we were pushed onto it, and Oogie was on the other level. What we were going to do to get up to him now? I felt a small pain in my head, and I saw that I flipped a switch on the roulette that was the closest to Oogie, and surprised him. That's it!_

"Guys, follow my lead." I said

_I stomped my foot on the switch nearest Oogie, and attacked him like a mad woman when I had caught him off guard._

"Yukie, with me!" exclaimed Rita

"Okay!" exclaimed Yukie

_They then hit the next switch, catching Oogie off guard since he expected me this time._

"Fire in the hole!" Rita exclaimed as she fired a fire spell

"Let's shake it up a little." Yukie said as she cast Aero

_Those combined attacks caused Oogie to split apart at the seams, literally. Turns out he was just a sack of bugs!_

"So, that heart was a failure after all." Said Jack

_Ankoku and I jumped up to where the heart was, and I found a piece of paper._

"Guys! It's another page of his report!" I exclaimed as I looked at it.

"Another one?" asked Donald

_I nodded my head before I folded up the paper and put it away. We then left his house, but we were then cut off by a sudden earthquake._

"Huh?" wondered Jack

_We looked back at the house, and Oogie had a major growth spurt! Big time._

"Whoa! How did he get so big?" asked Sora

"I sense that he's brimming with the power of darkness." I said

"Those dark blobs must be the cause of it." Said Reina

"That's how he's drawing power!" exclaimed Luz

"So, we just have to destroy those things, right?" asked Lumen

"Right." Said Ankoku

_We then split up to destroy the blobs, and when we finally did, we found the Keyhole! It was where Oogie's house was! It was going to take all of our Keyblades to seal it, but I was surprised when I saw Ankoku summon out hers. Her Keyblade looked similar to my Emerald's Embrace Keyblade, but was different in a sense. I guess I know why that Keyblade appeared after the Inheritance Ceremony. We all summoned our Keyblades, and pointed it to the Keyhole, and sealed this world. I then felt like I was about to be pulled to the stars. I guess this means that they learned the gravity spell. We headed back to the lab, where Sally was waiting for Jack._

"Sally, why didn't I listen to you?" asked Jack

"Don't feel bad, Jack. We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together." Said Sally

"I guess we have no choice. We'll have to cancel the Heartless Halloween Festival for now. Visit us anytime you guys. Next year's Halloween will be the scariest ever!" exclaimed Jack

"Emotion, memory… we put in all the necessary ingredients. What else do you need to make a heart? What is a heart, anyway? I can't figure it out." Said the doctor

"I think I have my own theory." I said

"You do?" asked Ankoku

"A heart… although we can't see it, we know it's there. It's what helps us guide our decisions, like a conscience. A heart's more complex than emotion or memory, it's what makes people who they are, no matter what they look like, what troubles they had in the past, or what they believe what is right or wrong. To me, that is what a heart is." I said

"A heart…" Ankoku trailed off

_Before we left, I took the page from Merlin's book secretly just before we were about to board the ship, we heard Ankoku cry out:_

"Wait!"

_We then saw her run up to us._

"Ankoku." I said

"Just who are you?" asked Ankoku

"What do you mean?" I asked

"When you spoke back there, I could hear such wisdom in your voice, like you're older than you look, and seen more things that anyone could ever see. Just who are you?" asked Ankoku

"I'm a Keyblade Master… of the light. That's all I am. No one special." I said

_Ankoku's P.O.V._

_I watched as the others disappeared through thin air as I stared up in the sky. Where are they going now? What have I been fighting for until now?_

"A Keyblade Master of light? Then you really don't know, do you? You don't know… that you're this world's salvation. Your heart is the lock… to open the door." I said

_Hikari's P.O.V._

_We were back in the ship when someone knocked my door again._

"Yeah?" I asked

_The door opened to reveal Luz._

"Hey Luz." I said

"Hey." Said Luz

"So, what can I do for you?" I asked

"I saw your Wayfinder, and I was wondering… if you could help me out." Said Luz

"With?" I asked

_She then held out some shells, Thalassa shells to be exact._

"Are these…" I started

"Thalassa shells. I wanted to make a Wayfinder before we left the islands, but I'm really bad at it. Could you help me out?" asked Luz

"Sure." I said

_I got the materials we needed, and in no time at all, it was finished. Suddenly, my broken Wayfinder began to glow, and when the glow faded away, a new shell was added to it, making it a six-pointed Wayfinder. Even the purple shell was fixed._

"I'm not your grandfather, and I'm not trying to replace him in your heart Hikari, but… I'm here, so don't hesitate to ask for help when you need it." Said Luz

"Thanks Luz. I appreciate it." I said while smiling

_Done and done! Finally! This really took me a while to finish, but yeah, I finally did it. Please review, and until next time, I'm sakuraphoenix, saying I heart you, signing off for now. Kan dao ni!_


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